


Affliction

by Forevermore_Fiction



Series: Black Rose [2]
Category: Suicide Squad (2016)
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Attempted Rape/Non-Con, F/M, Falling In Love, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Insanity, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Oral Sex, Past Drug Use, Past Rape/Non-con, Past Relationship(s), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Prequel, Smut, Vaginal Sex, etc - Freeform, implied attempted rape, past abusive relationship, super powers, undeserved amounts of trust
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-07
Updated: 2016-12-08
Packaged: 2018-08-20 00:39:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 56,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8230229
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Forevermore_Fiction/pseuds/Forevermore_Fiction
Summary: A Suicide Squad fanfiction! The prequel to Black Rose! Captain Boomerang X OC! NSFW content in this! This is the recent backstory to Black Rose, aka Lilith Fey, and her little misadventures with some scumbag she met in a bar.





	1. Youth & Whiskey

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Hello Readers! This is the prequel fic to my fanfiction Black Rose! If you haven't read it, go check it out! This is a Captain Boomerang/OC fic, and (just warning you) there is smut. Like, starting off right with the first chapter. So yeah, enjoy!

Australia seemed like a shitty idea right off the bat, especially with Penny. Penny was the sweetest girl, and had insisted that Lilith tag along, because it'd be fun she said, it'll get you out of your house! So she had agreed, figuring she could find something to do. Lilith could always hear how much the other girl judged her. Of course, Penny had no idea that Lilith could hear her every thought. She had no idea that Lilith was, by definition, a metahuman.

And of course Penny had no idea that Lilith wasn't all with it most of the time. To Penny, Lilith was just a quirky, but over all normal girl.

"Welcome to the apartment!"

Lilith glanced at Penny as she opened the door to the small apartment. Lilith walked around and put her stuff in one of the bedrooms. She sat down on the bed and pulled out her phone.

"If I decide to bring a guy home, 's that alright?" she asked. "You won't be offended?"

"Oh... um, don't go off with any strange guys, alright?" Penny said. "I've heard Australian guys are great, but there's always the chance that he's not as good as he seems. Always bring him here for me to see."

"That's not much of a hook-up," Lilith pointed out. "What, so I gotta bring my boy home to meet the parents?" She grabbed the newspaper off of the nightstand, flipping to the tabloids. "Oooh, Penny, look at this…"

"What?" Penny asked, walking over and auto on the bed next to her. She looked down at the paper and frowned. "A wanted criminal?"

"Captain Boomerang," she agreed, skimming the article. "Ninety counts of burglary, and forty counts of aggravated assault, holy shit…"

"Lil… watch your language," Penny said quietly.

"Oh fuck, my bad," she said, laying back on the bed. "He's a criminal at large… oh, well let's hope we meet him, he's kinda cute."

Lilith could hear Penny judging her again and she glanced at her, laughing. Penny chuckled nervously. "L-Let's head down to a bar downtown, that sounds fun, right?" she asked.

Lilith glanced at her for a minute. "Yeah, sure, go wash up, I'll take a shower when we get back," she agreed. Penny nodded and got up, hurrying into the bathroom, closing the door behind her.

"I'll get changed," Lilith said to herself, standing up and going to her bag. Lilith grinned and pulled her shirt off.

Penny came out if the bathroom quickly, peeking her head into Lilith's room and immediately turning red when she saw Lilith with her shirt off, no bra, a near six-pack on her stomach and tattoos covering her chest, sleeves of them on each of her arms. "O-Oh my gosh, I'm sorry, the door was open… w-wow, how are you so muscular, but still have such great boobs?" the girl asked, hoping to make it less awkward. Lilith pulled on a black crop top and a pair of high waisted shorts, staring at her but not answering. "Um… do you have any eyeshadow I could borrow?"

"No…" Lilith said, looking in the mirror and pulling her hair up. The other girl thought that this was strange, Lilith didn't bring any eyeshadow? "Uh, I don't share makeup."

"Oh, ok, I just wanted to check out what kind of makeup you use…." Penny said quickly, hesitating and running to the bathroom again, closing door.

Lilith chuckled, holding out her hand, vines starting to creep up her arm. She retracted them and waved her hands in front of her face, black eyeshadow and wine red lipstick appearing on her face. She sat down on the bed and pulled on a pair of boots, tying them up

"You ready?" Penny asked, coming out of the bathroom again and grabbing her purse off of her bed.

"Yep, let's go," Lilith agreed, standing quickly. She grabbed her black field coat and put her wallet, phone, and her cigarettes and lighter in the inside pockets.

"Wait, you aren't bringing a purse?" Penny asked. Lilith looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "What if you need to touch up your makeup? Where do you keep your tampons and stuff in case you get your period?"

"I haven't gotten my period," she grinned. Penny looked shocked.

"How? Are you pregnant?" she gasped.

Lilith laughed. "I sure as hell hope not. I've never menstruated. I can't get pregnant," she explained. "It's really nice. That way, no matter how many guys I fuck, I'm all good. And I can do it anytime of the month. We goin'?" She walked out the door and waited for the other girl. Penny walked out after her and locked the door.

"Did it have to do with… the accident?" her friend asked hesitantly.

"No. Maybe. Don't know, honestly," Lilith told her. "I think I was just born like this…" She shrugged, walking towards the elevator and pulling out her pack of cigarettes.

"I thought you quit," Penny said quietly as Lilith lit the cigarette right in the elevator as the doors closed. "I-I don't think you can smoke indoors, Lil."

"We're almost outside," Lilith chuckled, holding the cigarette between her lips and smirking at her friend. "And I don't recall ever deciding to quit."

"I-I just never see you do it anymore," Penny mumbled, coughing a bit as the smoke filled the small chamber. The elevator opened and they walked out, towards the door.  
\---

"This one?" Lilith asked as they stopped in front of a dive bar. They could hear loud music from inside and the lights were very dim.

"It looks dirty," Penny said worriedly.

"Looks good to me," Lilith said, going through the door. She looked around, seeing that there were a few younger guys in the corner of the room playing pool, and some older men at the bar, but Penny and her seemed to be the only two women. She went to the bar and ordered a whiskey.

"Hey, Lil," Penny said behind her. She turned and glanced at her friend. "Could you order me a beer?" Lilith nodded and asked the bartender, who handed her a bottle, which she handed to her friend, then handed her her glass of whiskey. "Wanna sit in that corner over there?" Lilith nodded and stood up, walking over to the corner opposite the young men with her friend. Penny started pointing out all the moderately hot guys, who Lilith could hear they were thinking that Penny looked really hot, and that Lilith looked a little scary. She chuckled as she sat on the arm of the chair and drank her whiskey, watching her friend for a while.

She paused when she heard one of the loudest thinkers she's ever encountered. The only time she'd ever heard someone louder than this guy was when the Joker had decided the street in front of her apartment was a good place to go on a shooting spree. This guy wasn't as bad as the Joker, but he was definitely going to give her a headache. She raised her eyebrow and sat up when she saw him walking in. It was the man from the tabloids, the wanted criminal. He sat down at the bar and she sat back, not looking at him. She could still hear him, though. He ordered a beer, and said if one of those pretty girls in the corner comes over to get a drink, tell them it was on him.

She looked back at Penny, who was looking in the complete opposite direction. She could hear her thinking about how none of the guys in this bar would want to get with Lilith, and that she felt bad that no one ever wanted to stay with her. Lilith smirked a little and reached over, grabbing the girl's wallet out of her purse and stuffing it in her inside jacket pocket. She glanced over at the man at the bar, who she could tell had seen her pickpocket the other girl, and she stood up.

"Lil?" She looked over at her friend as she spoke. "You okay?" Lilith nodded slowly.

"I'm gonna let this guy buy me a drink," she told her, draining the rest of her glass and walking over to the bar, a little ways away from the man. She ordered another whiskey and the bartender handed it to her.

"It's on him," the bartender said, nodding towards the man. Lilith smirked a little and glanced at the man. She felt Penny come over behind her.

"Lil, you aren't actually going to do this, are you?" she asked quietly.

"Why not?" she chuckled. She turned and leaned against the counter. "He's good looking."

"Yeah, sure, if you're into that, but not like all those guys over there," Penny tried. Lilith laughed, drawing a few people's attention.

"Pen, I'm into a lot of things," she reminded her. "Remember the time I was sleeping with that guy who ended up kind of being a serial murderer?"

"Yeah, but you didn't know he was," she whispered.

"I didn't once he was arrested.' she thought to herself. "True," she chuckled, drinking from her glass. "He was hot."

"He was covered in tattoos-"

"So am I," she reminded her with a laugh. She stood up from the counter and held out her arms. "You know I do things a little differently, Pen, who wants a normal guy anyway?" She had been backing away from her friend, drink in hand, and now turned and walked over to the man, sitting down at the stool next to him.

"Yeah, who wants a normal guy?" he agreed, flashing her a grin. She chuckled, seeing the single golden tooth in his mouth, and taking in the over all disheveling look he was somehow working so well. She leaned against the counter and raised an eyebrow at him. "How old are ya, jailbait?"

"Classy. I'm twenty two, actually," she laughed, sipping her drink.

"Well that's good for me, then, i'n't it? What's your name, hot stuff?" he asked.

"I'm Lilith." She held out her hand. He chuckled and took it. "And you're Digger Harkness." He looked surprised. "I'll call you Boomerang if you want me to make it a little more obvious."

"How'd ya know my real name, though?" he asked.

"I… saw it in the paper…" she told him.

"Ya lyin'?" he chuckled.

"Half lying," she agreed.

"I saw ya pickpocket yer friend over there, so don't be callin' the police on me, I'll pull ya down with me," he mumbled into his drink.

"Why would I call the police?" she asked, looking genuinely confused. He glanced at her and laughed. "Thanks for the drink, hun."

"No problem. Do I get somethin' back?" he asked, biting his lip and looking down at her breasts.

"Oh, sure," she agreed, turning and sitting facing away from the bar, glancing at her friend, seeing that Penny was staring at her with a look of disgust and anxiety. She smirked. "My friend over, there, the redhead? See her?"

"The one who's wallet ya swiped?" he asked, glancing at the girl. "She's cute…"

"We're both cute, but she's so innocent," she mumbled, running her hand over her mouth as she said it.

"You're not cute," he told her. She turned and looked at him, smirking. "Cute's what I call a girl that really looks like jailbait, but not my type. She's all girly, got all that frilly shit on her dress.

"It's lace," Lilith chuckled.

"Yeah, and lace is for good girls," he grinned, looking up at her. She chuckled.

"Yeah, it is," she agreed. "Unless it's lingerie… then it's sexy." He sighed out a laugh and continued roaming her body with his gaze. She tsked, turning and pulling Penny's wallet and her own out of her jacket pocket, opening it and pulling the money out of it, putting the money in her own wallet, then looking through the rest of it. "Ohhh…" She pulled a condom out of the wallet and held it up. "Eager much, Penny?" He laughed and she put the condom in her pocket, then put the other girl's wallet back in her jacket. "She's a virgin, she doesn't need this…"

"'re you a virgin?" he questioned, looking up at her face again.

"No," she laughed, as if it were the most ridiculous question she's ever heard. "Be right back, I'm just gonna tell her I'm leaving."

"Why're you leaving?" he asked, glancing up at her. She smirked.

"Gonna pay you back for that drink," she chuckled, winking at him and walking over to Penny, sitting next to her and putting her arms around her, dropping her wallet back in her purse when the girl looked at her.

"You gonna be offended if I take off?" she asked with a smile.

"With him?" Penny asked, looking at Boomerang. "Lilith, he looks really familiar, doesn't he? He looks like that guy from the tabloids you pointed out earlier." Lilith moved her arm back towards herself and wiped her nose, standing up. Penny gasped and she glanced down at her. "Oh my god, Lil, it's not-" she started. She looked down at the magazine on the table and Lilith grabbed it, holding a finger to her lips and starting to walk back. "Lilith Fey, you get back here now!" Lilith stopped and turned to look at her friend. "You can't go with him, what if he tries to hurt you?"

"I got this, Penny," she mumbled. "I'm tough, I can handle myself."

"I know you want a bad boy, Lil, but does it have to be…" she trailed off as Boomerang walked over to them.

"This isn't gonna be an issue, right? Your cute friend can deal with it?" he grinned.

"She better," Lilith laughed. She shoved the tabloid magazine at him and he stumbled back, grabbing it and raising an eyebrow. He looked at it and glanced at her. "She has nothing to worry about, right?"

"Nothin' from me, princess," he smirked, winking at Penny, who looked uncomfortable.

"You can't bring him back to the apartment…" she whispered to Lilith.

"Why not? I'll keep an eye on him," she grinned. She grabbed the man's arm. "Come on, let's go."

"If I find anything gone, it's your fault!" Penny called.

"That's fair!" Lilith agreed, pulling the man out the door of the bar. She started walking down the street in front of him, turning, stopping in the middle of the empty sidewalk and smirking when she heard him thinking about how much he liked watching her walk. "Quit staring."

"Did ya walk to the bar?" he asked, glancing up at her face, then down towards her chest.

"Yup, our place is just two blocks from here," she told him. "And my face is up here." He just smirked and chuckled. She rolled her eyes and walked up to him. "I'll walk next to you if you're going to watch me the whole walk home."

"Ya squaring me up, little girl?" he teased.

"No," she chuckled. "I'm just telling you to control yourself until we get back to my apartment."

Boomerang laughed and grabbed at her waist. "That's not really how I work," he told her. "I take what I want, when I want to take it." She raised an eyebrow and leaned up, having to go on her toes to reach his eye level.

"Well you should try. My bed at home is a lot more comfortable than a brick wall in an allyway," she breathed against his lips, ducking down under his arm to get out of his grasp and continuing to walk down the sidewalk. He chuckled a bit.

"Oh you're gonna be fun…" he mumbled, starting to walk behind her again. "So ya have an apartment… ya live here in Sydney?"

"For the next two months I do," she told him, slowing down so she was more next to him than in front of him. "If I like it, I might stay. But don't tell Penny that, she thinks we're going back to Gotham City together. But the Batman and the Joker and all of them get boring after a while. Plus, I haven't had many people ask for my bank hacking skills in a few months, so a change of scenery might be nice."

"You've robbed a bank, sweetheart?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I haven't actually broken into a vault or anything since I was twelve," she said. "But I'm known for being good at shutting down cameras and unlocking doors at the bank from my computer at home."

"That's a useful skill," Boomerang said. She nodded slightly. He didn't say anything for a while and she tried to tune out his thoughts as they walked. "So you're thinkin'a stayin' here in Australia?"

"Maybe," she nodded, walking towards a crosswalk.

"Ya afraid'a spiders?" he asked.

"Spiders?" she chuckled, looking at him. He nodded. "I mean, a little, but not like I'll scream and hide kinda scared, why?"

"We got spiders here," he smirked glancing over at the wall she was walking near.

"Oh, okay," she said, confused. She followed his gaze and cried out, jumping back before she ran into the biggest spider she'd ever seen. He laughed and caught her as she fell against him. "What the fuck is that?!"

"I thoughtcha weren't afraid of 'em," he reminded her with a grin, touching her hips.

"I meant the little ones, not fucking that!" she hissed.

"It's just a little huntsman, girly. Weird, they don't come this far into the city too often," he said. He looked down at her. "They're good, actually, they kill the gross stuff, like cockroaches and rats. The little kinda spiders are the ones ya should be afraid of, they'll kill ya in one bite." He leaned down and bit at her neck. She jumped a bit and leaned back against him more. "Go on, touch it!" He pushed her forward, laughing as she went towards the wall. She cried out and held out her hands, vines surrounding them. She quickly shot thorns out of the vines, keeping her actual hands from touching the spider as they pierced through it and killed it. She quickly regained her balance and backed up, the dead spider curling up and falling to the ground near her feet. She backed up and bit and shivered, shaking her hands and retracting the thorns. She froze and turned, looking at Boomerang, who looked shocked. "What in the living hell is that?"

Lilith gulped and turned, looking at him. "Um… it's just a… thing I do…" she said nervously.

He raised an eyebrow. "Have ya… had that checked out? Most people can't do that, ya know..." he told her. She sighed. "Does anyone else know about that? Or just me?"

"My ex boyfriend knows, but he's in prison…" she told them. "And my parents knew… and my aunt and cousin. But they're all dead, so, you're the only free living person who knows, yes."

"Did ya kill your family?" he asked, staring at the vines on her hands. She frowned and stared at him, not saying anything for a while.

"Yes…" she admitted. He just nodded. "No, she doesn't. Don't mention it to her."

"Come again?" he said.

"I… m-my friend Penny doesn't know," she clarified. "So you shouldn't mention… you didn't say that out loud…"

"Ya read thoughts too? Oh Jesus, what kind of hellish creature are ya?" he laughed.

"Black Rose," she said quietly, retracting the vines. "That's what my ex-boyfriend called me…"

"Clever," he tsked, walking over. "So now I'm stuck with a witch, huh?"

She backed up a bit. "You aren't stuck with anyone. You can walk away from me right now and forget me," she scoffed. "Don't call me a witch, that's not what I am."

"I don't care what ya are, sweetie, ya have amazing tits and a fat ass, that's all I want out of ya," he chuckled, grabbing her hip again, this time moving his hand back and grabbing at her butt. She tried to pull away from him.

"I'll make you work for it if you act like a jackass," she growled, moving her hands up to push at his chest.

"Oi, don't talk to me like that," he scolded, grabbing her arm with his free hand and pulling her closer so he could suck at her neck. " 's not very lady-like of ya."

"Oh, isn't it? What should I be acting like? How should I be talking to you to be more lady-like?" she asked, trying to move away from him.

Boomerang laughed. "Hey, calm down, little girl, ya looked prettier when ya were smirkin' and actin' like a little flirt for me-"

He let go and stumbled back when Lilith smacked him across the face. He looked shocked as she backed away from him and glared at him. "D-Did you just…?" he scoffed. He growled and stormed towards her, slapping her back. She gasped and fell back against the wall. "How does that feel, ya little bitch?!"

"It felt pretty weak actually, you hit like what you assume a woman would hit like," she spat. He raised an eyebrow and backed away from her, laughing. She glared at him. "What?!"

"Ya are cute. Hit me again. Show me ya hit like a man and I'll let this slide," Boomerang told her, holding his arms out.

Lilith stared at him, then cocked her fist back and punched him in the jaw. He stumbled back again and looked a bit dazed for a second. "Do you have a cigarette?" she asked him, cracking her knuckles and pulling off her jacket, putting it around her waist. "Or is that not lady-like? Should I go clean your fucking kitchen and let you fuck me like an animal like a good woman would?" She spit at him and started walking away.

"Oi oi oi, where ya goin'?" he called, regaining himself a bit and hurrying after her. She glanced back at him. "I gotta durry, hold on." She hesitated and read him for a minute. His intent was harmless, he was serious about his actions, which was quickly proven as he pulled a packet of cigarettes out of his pocket. She walked back over and took one, putting it between her lips and letting him light it for her. "Ya don't hit like a girl. Ya proved me wrong. Ya hit like Black Rose."

"Damn right," she agreed, sucking her cigarette and blowing out the smoke as she talked. "And likewise, your hit isn't weak, it just takes a lot more to knock me down."

"That's fair, beautiful. I'm gonna keep talking to ya like that, by the way. Nothin' personal, just how it goes," he said, watching her start walking away.

"Yeah. And I'll keep hitting you till you quit being a sexist prick," she retorted. "Just how it goes." He smirked and followed her as they walked closer to the apartment.

"Is it bad that it was kinda hot when you punched me?" he asked her suddenly, after a few quiet moments.

She chuckled. "Into some weird stuff, Boomerang?" she taunted.

"Sure. But I like a girl that can handle herself," he explained. She stopped in front of the apartment building and looked at him. "It's sexy, the way ya carry yourself. Don't take this the wrong way, but ya dress like a whore, but work it like an independant chick."

Lilith hesitated. "I don't know how not to take that the wrong way, honestly," she said. He just smirked and nodded. She rolled her eyes.

"Take it how ya want to," he told her. "You're really muscular for a girl, ya know?"

"Yes," she agreed. "Are you just going to keep talking to me or are you eventually going to move and let me buzz myself in?" He glanced behind himself and moved out of her way so she could unlock her building door with her key. The door buzzed and unlocked and she opened the door, holding it open for him. He pushed her back against it and she grunted. "It's just an elevator ride up to my place, you can't wait five minutes?"

"I can. Don't want to though," he grumbled, pulling at the front of her shirt, trying to get a glimpse of her breasts. "Are ya wearing a bra?"

"Nope," she smirked, pushing his hand away from her shirt. He chuckled and grabbed at her breasts.

"Yah really got a nice pair on ya," he told her quietly. Lilith rolled her eyes. " 'd be alright if I tit fucked ya? Ya can say no."

She laughed a bit. "I know I can say no. What, my pussy's not good enough for you?" He looked up at her. "You haven't even seen me yet, you might like what you see." She glanced over at a few people that were walking towards the building.

"Oh, I'm sure I will," he agreed, not acknowledging the people waiting awkwardly next to them, mumbling timid 'excuse me's' and trying to find a way past them.

"You're blocking the doorway, buddy," Lilith told him.

"They can wait," he mumbled as he started kissing at her chest. She pulled him closer to her as the people snuck past them, giving them questioning looks.

"Jesus, come on, man, my room's so close by," she tried. "I have drinks up there…"

"Tell me right now," he said suddenly, looking up her. She raised an eyebrow. "If I come up with ya tonight, I fuck ya, I use your shower, whatever, are ya going to be pissed if ya wake up tomorrow and I'm gone?" Lilith's smile fell a bit.

"You can stay if you want. But I won't go looking for you if you leave before I get up tomorrow, I'm not desperate," she told him honestly.

"I'll probably find ya again sometime. I have a habit of… coming back after I leave," he smirked. Lilith rolled her eyes, acknowledging his boomerang reference. "But maybe I'll stick around with ya, I mean ya seem cool… who knows."

"Yeah. Who knows," she agreed, moving her hands up towards his face, pulling him down to kiss her. He grunted and grabbed at her hips, pulling her close to him as she wrapped arms around her neck and kissed him. She gasped, feeling one of his hands shoving into her back pocket and she brought her hands down to unbuckle his belt.

"L-Lilith!"

She moved back a bit and looked over, seeing Penny standing awkwardly outside the door. " 'sup?" Lilith asked, still toying with his belt.

"Hey, sweetheart, be patient and wait 'til we get up to your place," Boomerang teased her. She smirked up at him and let go of his belt, crossing her arms. He just laughed and stood up straight, walking over to Penny. "What about you, cutie, ya want some action tonight?" Penny backed away from him as he advanced.

"She's not into bad, loud-mouthed Australian men," Lilith grinned.

"That seems oddly specific to me," Boomerang chuckled, walking closer to Penny.

"Bro, you're here for me, not her," she reminded the man. He glanced back at her and ran his tongue across his lips, turning and walking back over to her. "Come on, inside." He walked past her, still glancing at her, and pushed the inner door open. Lilith looked over at Penny. "Come on." She waited until her friend could grab the door, then followed Boomerang inside, he was standing halfway in the elevator, holding it open, glaring at a man and a woman who were asking him to move. Lilith giggled and hurried over, standing next to him.

"Seriously, do you even live here?" the man asked.

"No, but he's with me, and I live here," Lilith told him, leaning on the other side of the elevator door. "Penny, come on."

"I-I'm so sorry," Penny said to the man and the woman before slipping onto the elevator. She looked at Boomerang. "C-Come on, you have to move, let them in…"

"Don't know if I should, this guy seems like an asshole, not the kind of guy that should be in an elevator with two beautiful girls," he tsked, glancing back at Penny. Lilith laughed and watched him, watching the way the man and the women were glaring at Boomerang.

"He'll physically move you out of the way!" the woman spat, a slur to her Australian accent. Lilith smirked, realizing that the two were drunk. "Just because you're trying to look all buff for your slutty girlfriend doesn't give you the right to act like a scumbag. She's not even that pretty. And you wouldn't stand a chance against my boyfriend." The man next to her tried to size him up.

Boomerang grunted and stood up straight, stretching, revealing that he was at least half a foot taller than the man and significantly bigger in size. The other man backed up a bit. "Ya wanna go, mate?" he tempted. Lilith glanced down at the woman's purse, then back at the woman, and carefully picked the wallet out of the purse, then a lighter, and a pack of cigarettes, quickly putting them in her jacket pocket. "Ya wanna see how that goes? Bet yah girlfriend would love seeing ya as a bloody pulp on the floor..."

"Digger, get in the fucking elevator," Lilith said to him, laughing a bit, and nudging his arm, walking onto the elevator.

"Maybe next time," Boomerang grinned, shoving the man back, sending him back against the wall. The man looked shocked, wincing when Boomerang spat on him. The larger man laughed to himself and went to the elevator, getting in with Lilith and Penny.

"I'm not his girlfriend, by the way, he's just some guy I met tonight," Lilith called out to the woman.

The woman looked disgusted. "You're a whore, then!" she scoffed.

"You know it," Lilith agreed as the door closed and the elevator started going up. She laughed and heard Boomerang chuckling a bit, leaning back against the elevator wall. It was a small space, and Penny was squished into the corner trying to stay as far away from him as possible.

"What the hell was that, Lil?!" she hissed. Lilith glanced up at her, raising an eyebrow as she walked over to Boomerang and leaned against him. "You were acting like such a bitch to those two, they didn't do anything to you!"

"That cunt called me a slut. And a whore. And you saw the way that scrawny little guy was trying to size him up, that was funny," she chuckled, glancing at Boomerang, who was watching her. The elevator stopped on their floor and the door slid open. Penny rushed out, going towards their apartment, and Boomerang and Lilith followed her slowly, watching her panicked movements. "What are you doing, Pen?"

"I don't like it when you act like this! You always do this, you blend into whatever guy you're seeing and they're always dirt bags, and you act so cruel and selfish and horrible and it hurts me to see you this way," her friend snapped. Lilith just raised an eyebrow.

"I thought I acted like that all the time…" she said, walking up to the door and unlocking it. "I'll try harder to be a scumbag after he leaves."

"I thought I was stayin'," he reminded her, following Penny through the door.

"We never reached that conclusion, it's entirely up to you," she reminded him, letting the door close before going into her room and sitting on the bed, untying her boots. She looked up at him when he stood in her doorway. "Wanna go wash up or something while I get myself ready?" He raised an eyebrow. "I'll wash your clothes and shit, but don't think I'm your maid or anything."

"Yeah, sure, princess," he chuckled, pulling off his overcoat and throwing it over the top of the door. She sat up on the bed a little and watched him pull off his blue Captain track jacket, throwing it in a pile on the floor. " 's there good? Lilith just shrugged, staring at his arms and what she could see of his chest under his tank top. He raised an eyebrow and pulled off his tank top, throwing it down with his jacket. She bit her lip and watched him unbuckle his belt. His chest was hairy, a tattoo that read MUM on his left pec, and a few random little ones on his arms. The amount of muscle he possessed made her cross her legs and leaned back to watch him from a different angle. He glanced up at her and smirked. "Like what ya see, darlin'?"

"Oh hell yeah," she mumbled, watching his hand as he pulled his belt through the loops and tossed it at her. She caught it and set it down next to her as he walked closer, standing in front of her and unbuttoning his jeans. She smirked. "Go take a shower, you're dirty." He laughed and pushed his jeans down, kicking them into the pile of clothes and went towards the door again, continuing to the bathroom.

"Ya gonna join me?" he called.

"Nope. I'm going to get changed and put your clothes in the wash," she grinned.

"Your loss," he laughed. She heard the bathroom door close and saw Penny come into view in the doorway. Lilith stood up and grabbed the man's clothes off of the ground, reaching into his pockets to take stuff out and lay it on the table. Her friend looked over at the bathroom door as she heard the shower turn on.

"He's… using our shower?" she hissed.

Lilith shrugged and pushed past her to put the clothes in the washing machine. "And you're doing his laundry?!"

"I offered," she chuckled. She heard the water turn on in the shower and she threw the clothes into the wash. "Relax. It'll be fine, Penny. He seems nice!"

"I can't find my wallet, Lil, I think he stole it," she whispered. Lilith glanced at her.

"You put it in your bag, Pen," she told her. "It probably fell towards the bottom, that happens with purses."

"I looked, Lilith!" she cried. Lilith grunted and went over to Penny's purse on the table, reaching in and pulling the wallet out, handing it to her friend. Penny blushed and mumbled an apology.

Lilith went back over to the washer and turned it on. "Relax, Pen, he's pretty chill, he has no bad intentions," she assured her. She walked to her room and started pulling a pair of lacey black panties out of her suitcase, followed by a matching bra. She started stripping out of her jacket and shirt, and Penny froze in the doorway.

"L-Lilith, I really don't think you should do this," she warned her, quickly looking down. Lilith pulled the bra on, then unbuckled her shorts and dropped them to the floor, kicking them aside. She dropped her current pair of panties and quickly pulled on the lace ones.

"You're just jealous I'm getting laid and you're not," she laughed, adjusting the bra so that it pushed up her breasts nicely.

"I'm really not," Penny sighed, casting her eyes downwards. They heard the shower turn off and Penny stepped into the room. "Lilith, he's a criminal…"

"So?" she asked, getting onto the bed and lying back.

"So, we should call the police," she hissed.

"No, we shouldn't," Lilith argued, raising her head to look at her.

"Why not, Lilith? So you can have sex?" Penny grumbled. Lilith shrugged. "Seriously, I thought you were trying to pull your life together… those three or so shoplifting charges you have on you aren't going to look good if you get caught with him. And besides, when Mom and Dad come later this month, if he's still here-"

"Your Mom and Dad know that I do my own thing. They know I appreciating them taking me in, and I know they think of me as their own daughter, but we all know it's better if I'm allowed to be myself," she pointed out.

"Lilith, I know you like a bad boy, but this is a little much," Penny tried.

"No need to be afraid of a bad boy," Lilith chuckled.

"D'ya like a bad boy?" the man said behind her. Penny jumped and turned to look at him, then quickly put her hand over her eyes.

"Oh my god! You couldn't use a towel?!" she cried.

"Ya didn't give me a towel, love," he laughed, stretching. Lilith watched him and bit her lip. He glanced over at her and grinned smugly. "Ya really like what you see now, don't ya hotness? I've been told I'm better without me clothes on." She glanced at Penny, who looked uncomfortable and disgusted, then smirked and sat up, tucking her legs behind her. His eyes went right to her breasts, and he pushed into the room, past Penny, who quickly moved out of his way so he wouldn't even brush against her when he passed. Boomerang went to the bed and pushing Lilith down onto her back. He climbed over her and kissed at her neck and breasts, nipping at the skin with his teeth here and there, and running his huge hands up her sides. They both heard the door slam as Penny left, and they chuckled.

The man made her feel small. She knew she was small, barely above the five foot mark, and a hundred fifteen pounds that was mostly made up of muscle and breasts. But every other guy she had been with had been around the 5'11" mark, and couldn't weigh any more than 180 pounds. She usually found herself with lean, tall men. But Boomerang was different. He was six foot one and two hundred pounds of muscle, and hair, and careless personality. Additionally, as he moved off of her and the bed, she was happy to see that he had no reason to compensate for anything. He reached down and grabbed her jacket

"Eyes up here, sweetheart," she heard his gruff voice chuckle to her as he worked to pull the condom out of her jacket pocket.

"You look at my tits, I get to look at your dick," she argued with a smirk, looking up at his face. He chuckled again and grabbed himself. He watched her squirm impatiently in the bed as he tugged at himself for a minute. Then he let go of it, and tossed the condom packet on the bed. "How big is it?"

"My cock?" he asked shamelessly. She nodded and sat up a bit, watching him walk over to the bed. "Eh… somewhere around 9 inches, I think. Why?"

"And around?" she grinned. He laughed as she went up on her knees and ran her hands over his shoulders.

"Big," he told her, looking down at her and touching her arms. "How tights ya cunt?"

She laughed and bit her lip. "Why don't you come here and find out?" She leaned up, kissing him deeply. He grunted and grabbed her ass, lifting her up and pushed her back onto the bed. He bit at her neck and tried to pull her panties off. "What're you gonna do to me?" she breathed.

"What I want," he told her, moving down between her legs and throwing the panties across the room. "It's gonna make you never wanna leave me."

"That's a bit over-ambitious, don't you think?" she chuckled. She bit her lip and let her head fall back when he started kissing up her thigh and sucking here and there.

"Finger yourself," he told her, going up on his knees and starting to rip the condom package open.

"You can't do it?" she smirked.

"Just give me a sec," he grunted.

"You don't need that," she told him.

"Why not?" he tsked, hesitating.

"Because you're clean and I can't get pregnant," she grinned. He raised an eyebrow and stared at her. "If you really want to use one go ahead-"

"Fuck that, then" he scoffed, throwing it away and bringing his face between her legs, immediately spreading her apart with his fingers and licking all the way from her opening to her clit in one long, slow motion. She gasped as he did this and grabbed his hair, pulling him closer.

"Oh, fuck!" she cried, her head falling back onto the pillow.

"Y'have a nice snatch," he grumbled against her, grabbing her thighs and pulling her legs farther apart.

"That's so classy," she whimpered. He laughed at her failed attempt at sarcasm and started licking at her. "Fuck…." He continued to suck at her clit and she choked out a moan, loving the feeling of his facial hair scratching against her legs. "Oh, fuck me...!"

"Say please," he teased.

"Fuck you!" she growled, pulling his hair. He laughed and brought his fingers up to join his tongue, using his thumb to rub at her clit so that he could fuck her with his tongue. "Christ…"

He moved back a bit and put his middle finger into her. "Ya got a mouth on ya, girly, where'dcha learn dirty words like that?" he chuckled, watching her desperately try to grind against his fingers as he added his pointer finger.

"I learned 'em from bad boys like you," she gasped out. "You're fingers are fucking huge, man…"

"I can't believe how tight ya are, with just two of 'em," he agreed. "Can't wait to…" He moved, kissing up his stomach and pulling her bra down to kiss at her nipple. "...get my cock in you, I'm…" He continued kissing up to her throat, pulling his fingers out of her. "...gonna make you scream for me…" He sat up, lining himself up with her and thrusting in without any warning. She cried out and grabbed at his shoulders as her back arched. He grinned. "Ya like that?" His voice cracked a bit and he trembled, moving his position a bit to get a better angle. "Holy shit yah so fucking tight…"

"It's been a few months since I've gotten laid," she explained breathlessly, moving her hands up so that her fingers to play with his hair. "Y-You don't have to wait or anything, just go for it." He didn't wait for anymore direction from her, starting to slam into her at a fast, bruising speed. She kept moaning out, grabbing the sheets and biting her lip. She could feel and hear the headboard hitting the wall behind her, the bed springs creaking. "Keep going, harder!"

"Harder?" he grunted.

"Shut up!" she hissed, moving her legs farther apart on either side of him. He chuckled and grabbed her thighs, slowing his speed down so that he could focus on thrusting into her hard and deep, biting at her jaw. She let out a new string of noises, grabbing desperately at his still wet curls.

"Yah not gonna be able to walk tomorrow, love, ya sure ya can take it?" he asked, his forehead falling to her shoulder. She couldn't respond now, only able to whine. He swore and continued at his brutally forceful pace. He moaned out a bit and changed the rhythm to give himself more time, grabbing onto her hip and holding himself up by putting his hand on the bed next to her head. His eyes fell closed and his mouth found her jaw and her throat again. "Christ that's good…"

"Y-Yeah," she agreed breathlessly, before letting out a sharp gasp and throwing her head back a bit. He grunted and left a little bite mark on her shoulder, moving to angle himself a bit differently. She opened her mouth in bliss.

"D'ya know many guys who can make ya come just from their cock?" he asked, needing to rant to distract himself. "Or do they all… fuck… do they all have ta touch ya clit?" Lilith bit her lip and whined in her throat in response. "Yeah? Ya been with a bunch a little boys, Rosie?" She didn't even have the words to agree, just moaning out and nodding quickly. "Ya… ya gonna come on my cock?"

"F-Fuck…" she whimpered. He grinned, moving himself just a little more and letting his thrusts get more shallow as she gasped and arched her back more.

"Yeah…?" he grunted. "Yah such a good girl, baby. My baby girl…"

"You talk too much," she hissed out, pulling him down to kiss her. He chuckled and bit her lip gently, feeling her nails scraping against his shoulders and watching as her head fell back and she moaned. He felt her body convulse and tighten around him and he let out a shaky, deep groan, straightening out his posture and letting his head fall back as he slammed into her faster again, for his own pleasure. "Yeah, come in me…"

"Oh fuck, you're such a-" he choked out, his grip on her hips becoming tighter, and his hips snapping one more time into hers, hard enough to make her cry out. She watched him breathlessly as he grunted out the rest of his orgasm, milking himself into her with little, quick thrusts. Finally he stopped, letting out a deep breath. He looked down at her, pulling out of her and falling next to her on the bed. "Was that great, baby."

"Oh thanks," she smirked, running her hand up his chest. He kept staring at her, breathing hard. "You can stay if you want…"

"What about yah friend?" he asked, pulling her close to him and closing his eyes. She kissed his shoulder.

"You're my guest," she reminded him quietly. He grumbled something in response and she glanced up at him, seeing that he was done talking. She just shook her head, leaning against him and trying to block out his thoughts so that she could get some sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Leave me a comment to let me know what you think so far! It's going to take me a little longer to upload chapters for this story, since they aren't written yet haha. But yeah, thank you for reading!


	2. Low

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Here's Chapter 2! Sorry it took so long! There's some implied non-con stuff in this chapter, just a heads up. Some texting as well, Boomerang's are in dashes (for example: -text-) and Lilith's texts are surrounded by quotes (for example: 'text'). Hope you enjoy!

Penny jumped as soon as Lilith's door opened the next morning. She frowned and looked out the window, pretending not to notice the man walk out into the living room, still butt naked from the night before.

"Ya put me clothes in the dryer, cutie?" Boomerang asked with a yawn, stretching. Penny shook her head.

"No. I didn't. If you wanted them dried you should have done it yourself," she told him coldly.

"I see…" he chuckled, walking over to the washer and opening it. He pulled out his jacket and smelled it, shrugging and tossing it into the open drier along with the rest of his clothes before starting the machine. "Here, toss me a blanket." She glanced up, then quickly looked down. "To cover meself, come on, I'm not doin' it for me." Penny groaned and grabbed the blanket off the back of the couch, throwing it at him. He chuckled and pulled it around his waist and sat on the chair across from him. "So… how long have ya known Lilith for?"

"Longer than you," she scoffed.

"Obviously."

"Why do you care?" she asked, working up the courage to glare at him. He just laughed.

"You're cute," he told her. She crossed her arms. "I'm just tryin'a make conversation. And make it seem like I'm not naked."

"Maybe I don't want to talk to you," she hissed. Boomerang shook his head and chuckled.

"I like Lilith better than you," he mumbled.

"You don't know anything about her!" she growled.

"No, I don't," he agreed. "But I damn near love 'er already." Penny looked disgusted. "What? Do you love her or somethin'?"

"Lilith's my sister," she admitted. Boomerang looked confused. She sighed. "My foster sister. My parents took her in. She's my family, and I want to protect her from you. You have no idea what she's been through. She's overcome so much and I don't need you coming in here and destroying her."

"We've all gone through hard times, little girl, it's part'a life. If ya haven't gotten yahself into trouble, or thought about endin' yahself, or done somethin' you'll regret till the day ya kick the bucket, then ya haven't lived," he told her. She shook her head and scoffed. "Say, where'd she run off to? She wasn't there when I woke up."

"She's probably on the roof. She likes rooves for some reason. She tends to work out up there, and said she was going to work out, so…" Penny told him, picking at the fabric of her dress.

"Right… what're y'all dressed up there for? Goin' ta Sunday Mass or somethin'?" he teased her.

"I got back about half an hour ago," she corrected.

"Seriously?"

"I go to Church, yes. I figured you wouldn't," she scoffed.

"I'm not into all that… at this point, if there's a God, he's sending me to hell when I die, so…" he pointed out, shrugging. "What's the point of worshipping somethin' that's gonna send you ta fire and torture?"

Penny shook her head. "You can always redeem yourself," she told him calmly. He shook his head and laughed. They both looked over when the window opened and Lilith climbed through.

She smiled when she saw Digger. "'sup, dude?" she said, jumping down and stretching. "Hope I didn't wake you up, I tried to stay quiet."

"Didn't hear a thing, darl'," he grinned. He looked over her body. "Whatcha workin' out for, ya look great?"

Lilith rolled her eyes and walked over to the drier, checking how much time was left. "I had to be in shape to survive for most of my life. I figured I should keep it up…" she explained, walking over to him. He raised an eyebrow, and she sat carefully in his lap on the chair, sighing. "Well, after my family was… found dead, I went off and lived on the streets. I didn't want the state to take me, so I made my own way. I lived in the East End of Gotham, close enough to all the crime that I had to learn to defend myself, and hide, and that meant getting strong, learning to climb." She leaned against him. "I used to be a lot more muscular. You guys keep saying how ripped I am, but seriously, I'm really not, I'm just lean."

"Ya got some arms on ya tho," Boomerang pointed out. She chuckled.

"So do you big guy, what's your secret?" she teased him.

"Same as you. Got big enough to defend myself. But uh… for different reasons," he explained, rubbing the back of his head. She stared at him and nodded.

"Fair enough. Where're you from?" she asked.

"Korumburra," he told her.

"That sounds fake," Penny tsked.

"They all do," Lilith laughed. "Was it nice there?" She looked up at Digger and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"I guess, about as good as any little Australian town gets. Had some friends, got into trouble," he chuckled. "It's one of those places ya feel like ya gotta get away from, ya know? I actually… ended up in the States for a while, but uh…. That didn't last long. I had more connections here anyways. Might go there back some day."

"You'll have a place to stay," she told him, kissing his cheek.

"Oh? I'm gonna hold ya ta that," he grinned. She shrugged and stood up.

"Why are you acting like you've been together forever? You just met last night and… had sex," Penny spoke up. Lilith looked at her.

"He's our guest, I have to be respectful," she joked. "We aren't together, we're just… we hooked up, is all." Penny shook her head and jumped a bit when the drier went off. Lilith got up and went to the drier, pulling his clothes off and throwing them at him. "Are you doing anything exciting today?"

"Probably not. I have some things to finish up work wise, but nothin' excitin'. Just countin' cash 'n plannin'," he told her.

"Lilith and I are going to explore the city. So you'll have to leave," Penny said coldly.

"Penny!" Lilith gasped, glaring at her friend.

"Hey, sistah's before mistah's. That's a thing ya Yanks say, right?" he asked, looking up at Lilith and standing up. "I'll come back, baby, I know where ya live." He chuckled, kissing her head and going to her bedroom to get his clothes on.

Lilith was still glaring at Penny. "Don't be like that, he hasn't done a single thing to you," she hissed.

"I don't trust him," her friend growled back.

"Well I do!" Penny shook her head and looked out the window again. "Penny, please, I've got this, I really do. Trust me, we're safe."

"How do you know? Lilith, how do you know we're safe?" she whispered, looking at her. Lilith saw genuine fear in her eyes and she frowned. "Lilith, I didn't sleep at all last night… I was so worried about you, Lil, I was afraid he was gonna kill you…"

"Oh, Penny…" Lilith sighed, walking over to her and hugging her carefully. "I'm sorry you were so worried about me. I know you want me to be safe, and I appreciate how much you care… but…" She hesitated. "When you've… lived the way I did for as long as I did, you learn to know who to trust. You trust me, right?"

"Of course I do," she agreed. She gulped and glanced up at the bedroom. "You're sure? About him?"

"I'm positive," Lilith told her. "He won't drag you into anything crazy, and neither of us are going to get hurt." Penny stared at her for a minute, and Lilith glanced behind her as Boomerang came back out into the living room, fixing the collar on his coat.

"Hey, I'm gonna head out, a'right, missy?" he said.

Lilith hesitated. "A-Alright," she agreed. He nodded and started heading towards the door. She listened to him, hearing him thinking of all the things he had to do today. She followed him as he opened the door and went into the hallway. "Do you have a phone?"

"I do."

When he didn't say anything else, she cleared her throat. "Do you want my number?" she elaborated.

"Do ya wanna give me yer number?" he chuckled.

"I don't know, I figured you might want it," she shrugged.

"Most girls don't want the number of the guy they root a one-nighter with," he pointed out.

"Was this a one night stand?" she asked, figuring that's what he meant. He leaned against the door frame, looking down at her and smirking.

"I reckon it was," he teased. "Unless ya give me yer number. Then I might have ta give ya'a ring some time." Lilith felt herself smile and she shook her head, taking his phone when he held it out to her, and putting in her cell phone number.

"Text me. Don't call me," she corrected him.

"What if I need ta hear ya voice?" he smirked. She looked up at him as she handed his phone back.

"Need?" she questioned. He grinned and kissed her cheek before starting to walk down the hall to the elevator.

"You'll be hearin' from me, then," he told her, stepping into the elevator when it opened. "See ya, hot stuff!"

Lilith heard the door close and she blushed, shaking her head quickly and walking back into her apartment, closing the door and locking it.  
\---

A week went by, and Lilith didn't run into him again. He didn't text her either, which she had completely expected. She had known that he had no intention of texting her first as soon as he said he was going to, not only because he had thought it very loudly, but because of who he was as a person.

But Lilith wasn't going to be the first one to text either. Hell no. Desperation wasn't something she liked to willingly show, and besides, she wasn't desperate to hear from him. She and Penny had been exploring Sydney everyday, and had found the hottest clubs and hang out places in the area, and that had kept them busy enough.

"How about that one near that shopping place?" Penny asked as she stepped out of the bathroom in her robe. Lilith looked up from where she was watching music videos on her phone. The good thing about hearing people's thoughts was that even with metal playing through her earbuds, she always knew exactly what was being said to her.

"The one around the block from the supermarket?" she asked.

"Yeah."

"Sure, that club seemed cool," she agreed, pausing the video and glancing out at he setting sun. "How much is it?"

"I'll check," Penny said. "Let's get ready." Lilith nodded and got up, pulling out her earbuds and walking to her room, starting to pull a dress out of her closet. "So… have you heard from that guy?" She hesitated and looked out at her friend.

"No. Why?" she asked.

"Just wondering. You seemed to really like him, and he seemed like a dick. And I'm missing twenty bucks from my wallet," she said coolly.

"Why the hell would he take money from you? Especially American money," she pointed out.

"I don't know, he's a bank robber, isn't he?"

Lilith rolled her eyes and stripped out of her pajamas, pulling on the black cocktail dress. "The motive of robbery is to get money that you can spend, not just to get it," she told her, although she knew it wasn't entirely true. She stood in front of her body mirror, out of view of the door and waved her hand in front of her face to apply her makeup. "Trust me."

"Did you take it?" Penny asked. Lilith moved into the doorway again, not quite looking at her as she started to put her hair up in a bun.

"Why would I take it, I already have an American twenty?" she questioned.

"You've been known to get ahold of things that don't belong to you," her friend reminded her. Lilith shrugged and moved back into her room. "And I saw a condom wrapper in your trashcan."

"Penny, if you're so worried about people taking things from you, you should start by holding onto your purse," Lilith told her shortly. Penny glared at her a little. "Trust me, as someone who lived in the scummiest, most crime-ridden area of Gotham, the moment a thief sees an open purse, they're gonna get what they can out of it."

"Like that woman's wallet? The one from the elevator?" Penny scoffed. Lilith hesitated.

"She didn't need it," she chuckled, picking a pair of stilettos out of her closet and sitting on her bed to put them on.

"Lilith, you don't need to do that stuff anymore, you're not starving, you're not homeless," she reminded her. "You're gonna get caught one day, and you're going to go to jail, and you're going to wish you had listened to me."

"Who's gonna catch me?" she asked, looking up at her friend with a raised eyebrow. Penny gulped and looked down. "I didn't steal your wallet, or anything out of it, hun. I promise." Penny nodded and went to get dressed. Lilith rolled her eyes and stood up, walking over to her mirror again and jumping when she heard her phone vibrate on the dresser. She grabbed it and opened it to the text.

-didn't give me a fake number did you?-

Lilith gulped and texted the unknown number back. 'probably not. Who's this?'

-who do you think?-

'Digger Harkness'

-if that's what you wanna call me, sure.-

Lilith rolled her eyes and sat on the bed again. 'it's been a week, i thought maybe you forgot about me'. It was a teasing text, and she waited for the response, watching the three dots jump on the screen.

-forget about you? Princess, i havent been able to get you out of my head.-

Lilith wondered if this was sarcasm or not, and suddenly hated the fact that she could only see his words.

-what are you wearing?-

She sighed when she saw the text and quickly responded. 'why?'

"Ready to go?" Penny asked, peeking through the doorway. Lilith didn't look up at her, nodding. "Did he text you?"

"Yeah…" she mumbled, looking at her, then back down at the phone.

-im having a wank and youre my go to girl.-

She smirked. 'stop putting periods at the ends of your texts' she told him, standing up and grabbing her jacket, putting her wallet into the pocket.

"What's he saying?" Penny asked.

"Bad things," Lilith chuckled.

-only if you send me a picture.-

'im wearing a dress, since you asked earlier' She locked her phone and followed Penny out of the building.

"What's he doing?" her friend asked.

"Bad things," Lilith said again.

"Yeah- oh," Penny said, blushing and looking down.

"I'm not helping, if it makes you feel better," she grinned as they walked down the street. She pulled out her phone as it buzzed a few more times in her pocket and looked at the texts.

-can you see your tits in it?-

-dont leave me hanging darl, send me a picture.-

Lilith bit her lip and brought her camera up to take a picture, showing her biting her lip and the cleavage that was visible down the front of her dress. "Lilith!" Penny hissed. Lilith sent the picture and looked at her friend. "What are you sending pictures for?"

"He asked me to, you couldn't see my face," she chuckled, watching the message app again.

-fuck-

-thats a nice dress, going somewhere?-

'just stick to your hand, buddy' she told him.

-i wish it was more than my hand-

-wish it was your tight pussy-

-or that little mouth of yours. you didn't get to taste me the other night-

-would you let me fuck your mouth?-

Lilith felt Penny pull her out of the way of someone as they walked down the sidewalk, and she glanced up, then looked right back down at her phone. 'what if you were using up all my monthly texts right now? would you feel bad?' she teased.

-id pay for it-

-as long as you suck me off next time i see you-

-can you swallow much?-

'i know i can swallow nine inches, if thats what you're getting at' she said, stopping when she ran into Penny. Penny glared at her.

"Stop sexting and watch where you're going," she mumbled.

"Who said I was sexting?" Lilith smirked, glancing at the screen, then back up at her friend. She could see the club across the street.

"You're blushing," Penny told her. Lilith shrugged and looked at her phone.

-would you deepthroat me?-

-could u fit all of my cock down your throat?-

'i'd try. im going to a club, won't be around' she said.

-what club? im in the area.-

'sydney's a big area'

-i could be in the area quickly if you told me what club-

Lilith looked at Penny as they crossed the street, then texted him the address to the club.

-fuck-

-alright i can be there in a little over an hour-

'can you wait that long?'

-no-

-help me out, hot stuff, tell me how youd suck my cock-

'send me a pic'. She quickly locked her phone and pulled her wallet out of her jacket to get her ID for the bouncer at the club when they stopped at the door. She handed it to him and he glanced at it, nodding and letting her in, then Penny. The two girls went down the stairs to the club, where music and dancing clubgoers were shaking the floor. "Let's get a drink."

Lilith pushed her way through the crowd, making sure Penny was right behind her, and ordered them both beers. She handed one bottle to Penny when the bartender handed them to her, and she sipped from her own, and she looked at her phone, moving with Penny over to the corner of the club, to scope out the layout before they started dancing.

-you naughty girl-

That text was followed by a picture message, which showed his dick hanging out of his unzipped and unbuttoned jeans. It was pretty obvious that he was standing, leaning against a wall somewhere, and by the looks of the ground it was outside.

'are you in an alley?'

-yeah-

'youre jacking off in an alley?'

-no one's around. you like the pic, girly?-

'i do'

-does it make you wet through your panties?-

'not wearing panties' He didn't respond for a minute and she chuckled. 'i am wet, tho. i bet you taste so good'

-ur a dirty little girl-

'gonna cum, daddy?' Again, he didn't respond for a few minutes and she laughed, locking her phone again, putting it in her jacket while she drank her beer.

"Lilith, that guy over there's checking you out," Penny whispered to her. Lilith followed her gaze to the young man across the dancefloor. He was surrounded by a group of other guys, some of whom were also looking over.

"They're all looking at us. Both of us," she mumbled back, looking down at her drink and listening to the young men. One of them was saying how he liked the little red head, and wanted to see if all of her hair was red, and the man that was watching Lilith responded by saying they'd find out at the end of the night. She frowned, the first man was thinking about her and Penny, the second one was thinking about where they'd take the two girls. The third, the black haired one who was looking at her… he didn't seem to be thinking anything at all. She couldn't hear a single thought. She grabbed Penny's arm. "If they come over here, hold onto your drink and keep your guard up. If they don't, then make sure they aren't with us when we leave." She drained the rest of her beer.

"What, why?" Penny asked as Lilith stood up.

"Just trust me. I'm going to get another drink," she told her, going over to the bar and ordering another beer.

"Hey, it's on me," she heard the man say behind her. She winced and glanced behind her, watching the man come over next to her and give the bartender money for her drink.

"Thanks, bro," she mumbled, taking the drink and sipping it. She turned around and looked at Penny, seeing two of the other men had come over and started talking to her. She held her drink close to her, and Lilith glanced at the man next to her as he looked her up and down.

"Ah, an American?" he guessed. She nodded, looking over at him. He was handsome enough, black hair combed neatly and a black button up on his lean chest. But he wasn't her type.

"Yep," she agreed, starting to walk back over to Penny, sitting in the seat next to her.

Penny looked at her friend. "L-Lilith, this is Connor, and this is John," she told her, smiling nervously. She looked at the black haired man. "Who's this?"

"Not sure, you are?" Lilith asked, looking at the man.

"Steven," he told her, sitting in the seat across from her. "Your name's Lilith, then?"

"Yeah," she agreed, pulling her phone out of her jacket and seeing a few texts from Boomerang.

"That's a pretty name," he told her. "Where abouts in the States are you two from?"

"LA," she lied before Penny could answer. She unlocked her phone and read the messages.

-fucking hell, girl-

-you have no idea what you do to a man when you say stuff like that, darl'-

-you arent clubbing without me there, are you, love?-

Lilith started replying. 'got some guys here with me.'

-why???-

The immediate response made her smile a bit. 'they wont leave us alone'. After a moment she added 'it might be bad.'

"Who ya texting, darlin'?" the man in front of her asked. She looked up at him.

"My boyfriend," she said calmly. He didn't seem too phased by it, just smiling and nodding.

"Hey, you wanna come dance, lovey?" Lilith looked over as one of the men took Penny's hand and lead her out to the dancefloor. Penny looked a little nervous, but started dancing with him. Lilith watched her, sipping her beer every so often.

"Ya worried about your friend there?" the man asked her.

"Yeah," she agreed, watching her friend get more and more relaxed the more she drank. "She's such a light weight…"

"You're not, are ya?" he guessed. She looked at him. "I've watched ya drink two of those, and you're not even buzzed."

"It's beer," she pointed out. He shrugged and continued watching her. She found it extremely disturbing that she couldn't read him. It was like he could block her from hearing him, like he was surrounded by a sound proof bubble.

She had a bad feeling that she knew exactly who he was.

Penny danced with the men for ten minutes, before one of them offered to refill her drink for her. Lilith followed him and watched him order a beer for Penny while she ordered herself a whiskey, walking back over and sitting down. When the man came back to Penny with the bottle, he glanced at Steven and smirked. Lilith stood up again, and starting walking towards her friend. Penny drank without thinking, and Lilith swore, hurrying over. Before she could take the bottle from her, she felt someone grab her by the waist and start dancing against her.

"I know what you're trying to do, but you should just stop fighting," Steven whispered to her, his accent suddenly a lot less Australian and a lot more New-England-American. She felt her heart drop.

"How did you get out?" she hissed, sipping her drink and pretending like nothing was wrong.

"It was easy. I just froze up the guards for a bit and took one of their keys," he explained. Lilith swore again and looked at Penny. "I missed you Rosie… but I'm pissed that you let me get locked up like that. So to make it up to me, you're gonna let us do what we want with you."

"Is that so?" she mumbled. He chuckled and kissed at her neck. She elbowed him lightly, a warning, and he backed up a bit. "I broke up with you before you got arrested, Christian, you got yourself arrested and I didn't want to deal with you."

"Yeah, I know, sweetie," he agreed. "And yet here I am."

"Great…" she sighed, finishing the rest of her drink while he watched her. She froze and quickly pulled the glass away from her, looking down at it, then at Penny, who was swaying and laughing. She hurried over and grabbed her. "Penny, we have to go."

"How come?" the girl asked, looking confused as she was lead towards the door away from the men. Lilith held onto their purses and hurried to pay their tab before going out the door. They walked down the sidewalk quickly, until Penny started slowing down, leaning against Lilith and mumbling that she didn't understand what was wrong.

"Fuck… Penny, you have to get up," she hissed, looking behind her and seeing the three young men following them.

"Lil, I'm really dizzy…" Penny whimpered. "I need to sit down." Lilith swore again, trying and failing to keep her friend up and moving.

"You girls need a hand?" the tallest man, who had called himself John, asked with a grin.

"You stay away from her," Lilith growled, feeling herself stumbling. "I-If you don't go away I'll scream!"

"We just wanna help you," the other man, Connor, argued, walking over and picking up Penny, who was completely unconscious now.

Lilith grunted and moved forward, following him quickly as he brought her friend into a dark alleyway. She went to punch him, stumbling a bit from her own drugged state and gasping as she felt Christian grab her to keep her from falling, and pull her against him. She cried out and elbowed him in the face, starting to let her vines wrap around her arms until he grabbed her hair and threw her against the brick wall. She fell onto the ground, her vision blurring, and she could feel blood rushing to some new wound in her head, caused either by getting her head smashed against the wall, or by the impact of her falling to the asphalt. She could see the blurry figure of the black haired man standing above her, wiping blood from his nose. She felt her eyes fall closed and the next time they opened, she saw him the way she had remembered: lanky and tall, his black hair falling into his face a little and a tongue piercing shining in the dim light of the alley as he let his mouth fall open to breathe heavily. His black-brown eyes glowed with everything he felt, in the way only a completely unhinged person's eyes do. His hunger for her body. His craving to watch her squirm. His rage, and his longing to tear someone apart tonight. Lilith knew it was probably going to be Penny, and Christian would expect her to watch.

She rolled limply onto her back, feeling pounding in her ears, but tried to see what was happening to Penny. "Is she still a virgin, Rose?" Christian spat at her, kicking her in the side and kneeling down, grabbing her hair again. Lilith whimpered and hit at his arm. "You're gonna watch her become a woman." She tried to cry out as she felt him reach up under her skirt, tried to claw at his face, but felt her entire body freeze up, every muscle becoming useless and rigid. it was like she had turned to stone, unable to move, however she was completely aware. "Now don't try to fight it, you know how much it hurts…"

Lilith knew her entire body was shaking as it tried to move out of his hold, and she was forced to watch the other two men attack Penny, getting her dress off if her limp body. Her head pounded and she wished so badly she could scream out in pain, in fear, in helplessness. She knew Christian had his hand under her dress, and was ghosting his hand over her inner thigh. "Hey boss, what are we gonna do with this one when we're done?" one of the men asked.

Christian leaned down to whisper to her. "What should I say Rosie?" he asked, starting to push his fingers into her. "Should I tell them to kill her?" She heard a sobbing noise escape from her throat, and he chuckled. "No? Well then, I guess they can keep her? Right, my boys get to keep her as a pet?" He sat up a bit. "Keep her. Bring her with us."

Lilith watched the men laugh and grin in response, and the taller one turned to thank his boss. Suddenly, with a flash of silver, the tall man collapsed ungracefully to to ground. "What the-?" the other one started, before also being knocked down in a flash of silver.

"What do we have here?" Christian growled. "Why don't you go back to where you belong, Captain Boomerang?"

"Same to ya," she heard the Australian call from somewhere out of her line of sight. "Grabbin' girls in the night isn't what I remember ya doin', Stone."

Christian grinned and loosened his hold on Lilith. She gasped and tried to crawl away from him, but he pulled her up against him. "Haven't heard that name in a while. It's good to be back," he laughed. "This girl is special, Boomy. This is my girl."

"Fuck off," she hissed, elbowing him in the rib. He grunted but let go of her. She got up quickly, stumbling from the drugs and the head wound, and starting to fall over.

She felt Boomerang's grab her to hold her up, and she looked up at him. He was still looking at Christian, with a smug grin across his face. "Ya girl, huh? She seems ta love ya so much," he taunted. The man glared at him. "Get on outta here, now. I don't wanna see your face around here again, got it, or you'll be in some real trouble."

"Oh, are you a hero now?" Christian scoffed. He stood up and looked at Lilith. "I didn't get the memo…" She shook her head and glared at him. He chuckled and started backing out of the alleyway. "We'll play another time then, Rose. I'm going to love watching you scream." She held onto Boomerang without thinking, and watched her ex walk away, disappearing into the night.

"Where's Penny?" she gasped, turning quickly towards her friend. Boomerang had to catch her again before she could fall.

"Woah woah woah, love, calm down a minute," he told her, grabbing her shoulders and looking her over. "Ya got yourself hurt, you should sit down."

"We have to get her back to the apartment," she said, ignoring him and trying to get over to her friend. He held her in place.

"Stop being stupid, Lilith, you need a minute to build up your strength," he said. He sat her down against the wall next to Penny and started looking her over, pulling her clothes back on. "I don't think they did anything, looks like they were takin' their sweet time…" She stared up at him and he glanced up at her. "How'd ya know him?"

"My ex…" she whispered. "I-I should have left as soon as I knew it was him-"

"Hold on a sec, Stone's yer ex?" he cut her off, looking at her. She blushed and looked down. "Dammit, girl, ya really are crazy…" Lilith burst into tears and he looked a little panicked. "What? I didn't mean it, really!"

"He could have killed her… and I wouldn't have been able to do anything…" she sobbed. He sighed, relieved that he hadn't upset her, and moved closer to her.

"It wouldn't've been your fault…. That guy's crazy, crazier than you," he teased gently, moving her hair out of her face but also looking at her wound. "You're gonna need some ice… and ya should probably drink some water, too. I'll run across the street, there's a 7-11-"

"No!" she gasped, grabbing his arm as he moved to stand. He frowned and looked down at her. "P-Please don't go, what if he comes back?"

Boomerang looked around the alleyway and sat back down next to her. "He's not gonna come back here, love," he told her quietly, awkwardly putting his arm over her shoulder. She leaned against him and he realized that she was shaking. "He really rattled ya, didn't he?"

She looked up at him. "He touched me…" she whispered. "W-while I couldn't move… you're sure they didn't touch Penny?"

"Positive."

"Good…" she sighed, looking at her friend. "I would have taken all three of them if it meant they didn't touch her…"

"I'd'a liked it better if he hadn't gone after either of ya girls…" he mumbled, getting up again. She held onto his hand and he sighed. "I'm not leavin'. I'm gonna take ya home." Lilith blushed and nodded, letting go of his hand so that he could pick Penny up. "Ya gonna be able to walk? Ya can lean on me if you need ta." She nodded and got up carefully, seeing that he was watching her to make sure she didn't fall.  
\---

"You can't tell her what happened," Lilith whispered once Boomerang shut the door to Penny's room. He raised an eyebrow and started walking towards the bathroom. "Tomorrow, when she wakes up, if she doesn't remember, just say she passed out and you helped us home."

"Sure thing," he agreed, turning the water in the shower on. She watched him hold his hand in the water, closing her eyes and looking down. "But what makes you think I'm stayin'?" She looked up.

"W-Will you?" she asked quickly. He looked a little surprised. "Please."

Digger stared at her for a moment, then sighed and pulled the shower curtain closed. "Yeah. But only cause ya had a close call tonight and yer all shaken up. I'm not ya boyfriend or anythin'," he told her, walking over to the towel shelf and taking a washcloth.

"Never said you were," she mumbled, looking down. He stuck the washcloth under the shower spray and brought it back over to her, standing above her and bringing it towards her face. She moved back, confused.

"You've got blood all over ya, I'm gonna clean it off," he told her, grabbing her arm and pulling her back over so he could start wiping at the cut on her head. She watched him, then looked down and mumbled a thank you. He hesitated, then continued. "What was bein' with him like? Why would ya be around someone like that?"

She pushed his hand away. "You first. How do you know him?" she asked. He sighed and moved his hand to her head again. She winced.

"Worked with him once or twice. Kinda screwed 'im over, took all the money from a guy he killed…" he explained. He cleared his throat and shrugged. "He's kinda hated me ever since."

"So we both screwed over Stone…" Lilith chuckled. He smirked wryly and moved to wipe under her nose. "So… why would I be with someone like that?"

"Yeah…"

"Well… if you must know, I wasn't very smart back then… I did a lot of things I shouldn't have done…"

"Drugs?"

"Yeah…" she agreed quietly.

"So ya got coke from 'im, then?" he guessed. She nodded.

"That's how we got together. He brought me my stuff and told me he didn't money as payment that week… and when you're addicted to drugs you'll do anything to get them… so he took me back with him. I didn't see Penny or her parents for a really long time…" she told him.

"Why not?" he asked.

Lilith shook her head. He moved his hand away and she hugged herself. "Because… he's the kind of person that doesn't let you leave… everyone knows you're his…" She held up her wrist. He raised his eyebrow, only seeing dark, detailed tattoos on her skin, until she took his hand and moved his fingers over the bone. He pulled it back quickly, looking horrified.

"The hell is that?" he scoffed.

"An S. Carved with a knife. While I was tied down," she told him. She saw his jaw tensed and she hugged herself. "I didn't see Penny because he's the kind of man who locks his ex girlfriends, the ones that try to run, in cages and lets his men have them whenever they wanted. And the kind of person that kept me drugged most of the time… and the kind of person that made me kill even when I didn't want to… the kind of person who's going to find me and bring me back with him because he made me, and I owe him my life." She shook her head and leaned back against the sink. "And I loved him. Because he taught me how to avoid the law, and how to be okay with doing whatever the hell I wanted… even if it hurt someone else. And he's the only person on this Earth whose mind I can't hear, and it was exciting, never knowing what was next. And it was so twisted and beautiful to be there when he killed someone, and then he'd turn and touch my face, and his hands were covered in blood, and he would kiss me and tell me he did it for me…" Lilith felt a tremor run down her spine and she squeezing herself, closing her eyes and shaking her head. "I couldn't see through him. He tricked even my mind into seeing someone else, and I didn't recognize him, and Penny could have died-"

She felt Digger put his arms around her and she relaxed a bit. "Yeah, well…" he started, sighing. "It's not like that anymore. Ya don't have ta worry cause… I'm not gonna let him hurtcha."

Lilith knew that asking him why would be a bad idea, that he would get defensive and give her some meninist explanation about how he didn't have to, but since she was a weak little girl it would be the right thing to do. So instead she settled on a, "Thank you."

"No big deal," he told her, kissing her head. "Now come on, let's getcha in the shower, before it runs cold." He turned back to the shower and turned up the heat.

She hesitated, then sighed. "Do you wanna get in with me?" she asked. He glanced at her.

"If ya want. It might get a bit touchy feely if I do," he warned her. "I can't stop thinkin' 'bout those texts ya sent me…"

"Yeah?" she chuckled, smiling and walking towards him. "Did you like that?"

"Course," he smirked, standing up straight and turning her around. "Move ya hair." She realized that a portion of her hair had fallen out of the bun, and she moved her hands behind her, lifting it up so that he could unzip the back of her dress. "Oh, you really weren't wearin' panties…"

"Not with this dress," she smirked, turning and letting the dress fall to her feet, he watched it fall, then looked back up at her and raised an eyebrow. She took her hair down, then leaned up and kissed him deeply, feeling his hands carefully running up her waist, then back down and resting on her hips as he kissed her back. She liked the way he tasted as he kissed her, like beer and tobacco and faintly of mint gum. Her hand went up to his shoulders, running up his neck, then back down to push his coat off. He helped her by shrugging it down, then let go of her to throw it aside, starting to unzip his jacket. He pulled away as he removed this article, then the tank top underneath it. "Why do you wear so many layers? You live in Australia."

"I'm from the south," he told her, unbuckling his belt and undoing his jeans, pushing them down and kicking them off. He looked up, seeing her confusion. "More south than here. Actually, this area isn't too hot either."

"To me, the south is usually hotter than the north," she told him, chuckling and watching him push his boxers down.

"A lotta things are backwards in Oz…" he told her, grinning and touching her hips again. She sighed and leaned up, kissing him again and pulling his beanie off, throwing it aside. "Come on now, let's get in before the water gets too cold. I wantcha ta show me what ya can do with that mouth, girly." He stepped into the shower and pulled her along with him. Lilith smiled and closed the curtain behind her.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed this chapter! Leave me a comment/review to let me know what you think or if you have any questions/suggestion! Thanks for reading!


	3. The Death of Me

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Sorry this took me so long, guys! I started it, then deleted it and rewrote it so I lost three days of work! But I like it better now so... anyway! Warnings for this chapter, lots of crudeness and some racism from Boomerang, not a whole lot, but it's there and I felt bad writing it, so I figured I should put a warning! Also I guess I should put a slight gore warning, and smut warning, not exactly related. You'll see... enjoy!

"Good morning, Digger," Penny growled as she walked into the kitchen in her bathrobe.

"Mornin', Pen," he chuckled, finishing off the last of the milk into his cereal bowl. He looked into the empty container and grimaced, tossing it into the garbage can. "I'll pick up some more for ya."

"Will you…?" she sighed.

"Yeah, in a sec," he agreed. "Didn't mean ta use it up."

"Did you use up the body wash, too?" Penny asked.

"Maybe," he shrugged.

"What about the ice cream?"

"There was only a bit! Yer a tiny li'le thing, ya weren't eatin' it," he pointed out.

"How does me being tiny have anything to do with you eating all the ice cream?!" she snapped. "Everyone eats ice cream!"

"I'm a big guy! And ya don't have much in the way'a food lyin' around, what're ya, vegan?" he scoffed.

"Vegetarian. Vegans don't eat dairy ice cream," she told him coldly.

"Aha! So not everyone eats ice cream, then!" he grinned. She glared at "Hey, why're y'all pissy 'bout a dessert? Ya really weren't eatin' it, it wasn't even open, it was just a small container too. And ya really are a tiny li'le thing, ya couldn't'a eatin' it all on yah own."

"I'm not tiny!" she hissed.

"Eh… yer tiny," he argued. "Maybe I should'a left y'all the ice cream, you'd get some meat on ya, get'chaself some nice curves." She turned red and he smirked, eating his cereal. "Guys like a girl with curves."

"I have curves-" she started. She hugged herself. "It doesn't matter what guys want, you jerk, I am how I am, and guys will just have to accept that or walk away. I'm not looking to hook up with guys anyway."

"Sure yah not," he teased.

Penny stared at him for a minute while he ate his cereal. Technically it was her cereal, but saying something about it wasn't going to get her anywhere. "You're a real jerk, you know that?" she told him.

Digger put his hand on his bare chest. "Ouch, that hurts," he taunted. "I might just cry." Penny shook her head and crossed her arms, continuing to watch him. "What, 's this yah cereal?"

"Yes!" she snapped.

"Sorry, darl'," he chuckled, finishing it and drinking the rest of the milk out of the bowl. Once it was empty, he set it in the sink, then walked towards her. She backed up against the counter and he grabbed her hip. "I'll pay ya back…"

"P-Please don't touch me," she said quietly, leaning back in an attempt to get away from him.

" 's ya hair naturally that red?" he asked, going to touch it. She moved farther away.

"Yes, my hair is naturally fire engine red," she scoffed. "Can't you see the roots coming back in brown, you idiot?" He just nodded.

"What're ya, then? Ya look Italian 'r somethin' like that," he inquired, looking her up and down.

"What? No," she growled, hesitantly putting her hands on his shoulders to push him, but quickly moving them back to avoid touching him.

"No? A'right, I started European, ya' an Arab?" he tried.

"I don't think that's the proper way to say that," she hissed, glaring at him. "And no, my family's from Greece, now will you get away from me?"

"Ah… Greek, that's hot," he told her, putting his other hand on her waist and running them both down her hips.

"Why the hell would you guess Middle Eastern?" she spat, trying to pull away from him.

Digger shrugged. "The nose." Her mouth fell open. "And yah skins darkish, I dunno."

"You- you can't say that!" she cried.

"Ya asked!" he pointed out, laughing.

"You racist prick!" she accused, slapping him across the face. He raised an eyebrow and grabbed her wrist. She looked shocked and tried to pull herself away from him as he pulled her closer to him. "Y-You're racist, and sexist, and disgusting."

"Never said I wasn't," he chuckled, pinning her completely against the counter. "But ya know what?" He kissed her neck. "I think ya kinda like it…"

"Fuck you," she hissed, grabbing onto his bicep and trying to push him back. "W-Where's Lilith?"

"Asleep, why?" he told her, sliding his hands under her thighs and lifting her up onto the counter. She squeaked and held onto him, then hit him once she was seated on the counter.

"She's gonna walk out here and see you try to touch me and she's gonna kill you!" she hissed.

"Life's more fun with a risk, eh?" he chuckled, biting gently at her jaw. She gasped and grabbed his shoulders again.

"Y-You're with her, you can't do this-"

"I'm not with Lilith," he told her, touching her chin and tilting it down so that she had to look at him. "I sleep with her but she's nothin' more than a… friend, I suppose. I don't do all that lovey-dovey, attachment bullshit."

"Then get away from me," she growled, pushing him again. He laughed.

"What, yah'd fuck me if I was yah boyfriend?" he taunted.

"I'd sleep with you if you were my husband," she corrected. He opened his mouth to respond, then frowned. "I'm saving myself for marriage. Now get away from me or I'll scream!"

"Oh, ya'a virgin," he grinned. She brought her hand up and slapped him again, scratching him in the process and jumping down from the counter. She started to run towards Lilith's room, but he grabbed her wrist again.

"Let me go-!"

"Will ya shut up fer a minute?" he sighed. "I was just teasin' ya, sorry if I took it too far."

"Too far?! You went way past the point of teasing and crossed straight into rapist creep!" she cried.

"Shush!" he hissed, turning a little red. "Look, yah a cute girl, but I'm not the kinda guy to go around forcin' pretty girls inta bed with me. I wouldn't hurt a girl like that, never." He let go of her and she backed away a bit more, looking down and rubbing her wrist. "I do a lotta crazy, fucked up things, but hurtin' girls isn't one of 'em."

"Then what was that?" she scoffed, fixing her bathrobe.

Digger shrugged. "I've had a bit too much ta drink this mornin'," he admitted. "I didn't hurt ya, did I?"

"N-No, I guess not, just my wrist-" Penny looked up at him when she realized what he had initially said. "How have you had too much to drink, It's only nine o'clock in the morning!"

"Is it? Fuck, I'm going back to bed," he said, walking past her towards Lilith's bedroom. Penny watched him, looking down and shaking her head. "Say, what's Penny short for, anyway? 'r are ya just named after a shiny coin?"

"P-Penelope," she told him, blushing a bit. "What's Digger a nickname for?"

"Ehhhhh… I dunno, actually, I have no idea why me names Digger. Mah real name's George, though," he told her. "But don't call me that, stick to my weird nickname."

"Just as long as you don't call me Penelope," she agreed, smiling wryly. He nodded and started to open the door. "H-Hey, is Lilith ok? She's been acting weird ever since we were at the bar a couple weeks ago, when you helped us home… t-thanks… by the way." She looked down and tucked her hair behind her ear.

Digger hesitated and sighed. "She's alright. I'm here ta make sure she stays that way." With that he opened the door to Lilith's room and went in, closing the door behind him. Penny hugged herself and hurried to her own room.  
\---

Lilith hadn't woken up until about 1:30 that afternoon, and Digger thought the extra four and a half hours of sleep was amazing. It was strange, having a nice bed like that… He was only staying with them because their apartment and everything in it was nicer than the trashy little trailer park he had been living in for the past few years. And they had food, as long as he paid Penny back for it. Food was always good, but hard to come by when you were hiding and couldn't go out in public. Having the girls around to get it for him was convenient.

Of course, Lilith was a plus. It was really something he could get used to, having a woman naked in bed next to him every morning. What man didn't want that? And every night, all he had to do was pull her into the bedroom, or into the shower with him, and she gave him whatever he wanted. Except ass. But he was willing to live without it.

She was stunning, in his eyes at least. A tiny little doll, feisty as an alley-cat, and yet as exquisite as a fine jewel. He had teased her about getting her one of those, an emerald to match her eyes. She had just smiled and told him not to get caught just to get a pretty girl some jewelry.

He touched the emerald ring in his pocket and chuckled, watching her look out the window. She was all wrapped up in his track jacket, the sleeves hanging at least three-quarter of a foot over her hands at least, and the torso falling just past her bum, to hide her lacy little black panties. He smirked a little, feeling pride, for some reason, in knowing what underwear she was wearing.

"You can turn on the news if you want," she told him, turning slightly to look at him. He watched her bring her hand up to push some of her hair out of her face, the sleeve dangling in her face for a minute. "If you're bored, I mean."

"'m not bored," he told her, smirking. She rolled her eyes and looked back out the window. "Whatd'ya see?"

"I'm just looking at the water," she told him, her voice quiet and distant. "The sun light is reflecting off of it nicely."

"Do ya like the water?" he asked, grabbing his beer can off the coffee table and taking a sip.

"I'm not into the ocean, I'm afraid of sharks," she told him. He chuckled. "I like lakes, though."

"We have lakes here, in Oz. I'll take ya to one, we'll get ourselves a cabin and go skinny dipping," he grinned. She let out a breathy little laugh and nodded, but she didn't smile, leaning her head against the window. He raised an eyebrow. "Ya sure yah're alright, lovey?"

"Yeah," she said quietly. "You can turn on the news if you want."

Digger stared at her and shrugged, grabbing the remote and turning on the TV, starting to watch the news. Lilith walked away from the window, towards the kitchen. "Hey, babe, ya wanna get me somethin' ta eat?" he asked glancing back at her. She hesitated. "Please?"

Lilith sighed. "What do you want?" she questioned.

"Anything, really. But those leftovers in the fridge look good," he grinned. She sighed and nodded walking to the kitchen. He looked back at the screen, putting his feet up on the table and drinking his beer.

Lilith glanced out at the front door as it opened and Penny walked in, taking off her 'God sweater' as Lilith liked to refer to the little pink cardigan she wore to church on Sundays. "Morning, Penny," she yawned, putting the plate of leftover Chinese food in the microwave.

"It's two in the afternoon," Penny chuckled.

"Afternoon, Penny," she corrected herself, leaning on the counter. "I woke up, like fifteen minutes ago, it's morning to me."

"That's fine," Penny smiled. She glanced into the living room, then came fully into the kitchen and set her purse on the counter next to Lilith. "Um.. Lilith, is he going to be here when my parents come?"

Lilith hesitated. "When are they coming?" she asked.

"Next week," Penny told her.

"Fuck. I forgot about that," she mumbled, opening the microwave door and pulling the plate out before the timer could go off. "I don't know."

"It's fine if he's here but… you have to play it off like he's your boyfriend," she told her. Lilith hesitated as she went to get a fork out of the silverware drawer. "And he needs to get a filter on… everything. He just needs to tone it down on the swearing and the crudeness…."

"You're fine if he stays?" she asked, turning and looking at her. Penny blinked and nodded. "What changed. You hated him just yesterday."

"I didn't hate him," she tried.

"You told him if he got caught it would be okay with you," Lilith reminded her.

"Yeah, because he deserves to be caught, he does bad things," she defended herself.

Lilith stared at her, tilting her head to the side. "Huh…" she mumbled..

"Hey, Lilith?" Digger called from the living room. She grabbed his plate and started walking out. "'s ya ex's name Christian Kamen?"

She frowned. "Yeah, why…?" she asked, trailing off as she saw the TV.

Stone's mugshot was on the screen, and a news anchor's voice was talking in the background. "Going by the pseudonym 'Stone', Kamen was transported from Gotham City prison in New Jersey, to the Elizabeth Arkham Asylum for the Criminally Insane for psychiatric evaluation earlier this year. A spokesperson from the Asylum told us that Kamen broke out of the Asylum on the first day of this month," they reported.

"Who the fuck runs that place?" Lilith hissed.

"Why? Cause he broke out?" Digger chuckled.

"Everyone breaks out of Arkham," she hissed.

"The American Federal Bureau of Investigation has alerted authorities in Australia that Kamen may have been smuggled into the country, but which province he entered in is still uncertain," the reporter continued. "Citizens are warned not to wander around alone at night, and to contact your local police if you suspect he is in your area-"

"Lilith…" Penny whispered. Digger and Lilith looked over at her. "H-He's here? Is he coming after you?"

"No, no, Penny, it's fine. I'm sure we won't even see him," she lied. "Australia's a big place." Penny looked nervously at the mugshot on the screen.

"He looks terrible in his picture," Digger spoke up, hoping to help change the subject.

"Everyone looks terrible in mugshots," she chuckled.

"Nuh uh, mine's not bad-"

"In other news, the notorious Captain Boomerang-"

"Let's not!" Digger snapped, grabbing the remote quickly and turning off the TV. "Alright…. Cool… I'm gonna need ta lay low for a bit, ladies, 's fine if I stay here, right?"

Lilith looked over at Penny, who just smiled nervously. "Of course," the girl agreed. Lilith handed him his plate and went to her room. He watched her close the door and raised an eyebrow. Penny sat on the back of the couch and shrugged. "I told you she's been acting weird."

"She's fine," he argued quietly, starting to eat his food. Lilith came back out of her room a few minutes later, just as he finished eating, all dressed and pulling on her jacket.

"I'm going to go get groceries," she announced, shoving her wallet into her pocket and going towards the couch.

"Want me ta come with ya?" Digger asked, setting his empty plate on the table. She climbed onto the couch a bit, kneeling over him and kissing him. He raised an eyebrow but kissed her back, putting a hand on her waist.

She moved back and smirked a bit. "That's okay, you just wait for me to get back, okay, baby?" she told him sweetly, biting her lip. He blushed and nodded, leaning back a bit. She chuckled and got up. "I'll be back in an hour or so, I might go pick up some clothes or something." She walked towards the door, opening it. "Penny, text me if you need anything!" With that she left, closing the door behind her.

Digger and Penny didn't say anything for a minute. He just sat there in a bit of a daze, trying to fathom what had just happened. "Um… was that a subtle way ta say I'm gettin' really good sex when she gets back, or was I the only one ta pick up on that?" he questioned, genuinely confused.

"Why wait," Penny mumbled, jumping off of the couch and walking towards her room. Digger kept staring at the front door until it hit him.

"Wait, what?" he asked, turning and looking at her. She shrugged.

"I'm going to get dressed, wanna join me?"

"Do… do I wanna join ya… while ya get dressed?" he clarified. Penny smiled sweetly and nodded. "Like, while ya naked and stuff?"

"Yeah," she chuckled, opening her door and reaching behind her to unzip her dress. His mouth fell open and he looked ahead at the black TV. "You coming, big guy?"

"Am I dreamin', or somethin'...?" he breathed, rubbing his eyes. He could see her walking over to him in the reflection of the TV. He felt her hands rest on his shoulders and run down to his chest as she leaned over him.

"Does this feel like a dream?" she whispered. He shivered. "I want you to show me what it's like…"

"What? W-What what's like?" he questioned nervously, standing up and turning around, looking at her. She rolled her eyes and shrugged her Sunday dress off of her shoulders, letting it fall to the ground. He tensed up as he stared at her. "You, uh… you want me to fuck you?"

"Yes, please," she giggled, biting her lip. He looked bewildered.

"What happened to saving yahself for marriage!?" he reminded her, watching as she grabbed the waistband of his jeans and tugged him over to her.

"That was a long time ago-"

"That was this morning!" he argued. "Remember?! It was nine o'clock? I was eatin' ya cereal, and I was just messin' with ya, Penny!"

"So you don't want me?" she questioned darkly, looking up at him while she unbuttoned his pants.

"What's wrong with yah eyes…?" he questioned worriedly, grabbing her chin and forcing her to make eye contact with him. Her normally hazel-brown irises were a dull grey and both eyes seemed to be glazed over, giving them a foggy look.

Penny grinned and tilted her head to the side slightly. "I dunno, Boomerang, what's wrong with my eyes?" she asked innocently.

He raised an eyebrow and watched her push his pants down to make them pool at his ankles. She bit her lip again and touched his lip with her thumb. "What is happening...?" he mumbled.

She grabbed the back of his neck and pulled them closer together, reaching her hand down into his boxers and grabbing onto him. "What's happening, Digs, is that you're going to sleep with this innocent little angel, because you want to," she whispered, starting to jerk him off. He grunted but frowned. "Right? You want to fuck her. Because all you want is her body. Because Lilith doesn't really belong to you. She belongs to me. So she doesn't matter, it doesn't matter if you sleep around a bit."

"What is happening?!" he repeated, trying to move away, but her hold on his dick kept him in place.

"Just go with it," she told him, letting go of him and grabbing his arm, pulling him towards the bedroom. "Both of their lives might depend on it." He, obviously, had to follow her. Once they were in Penny's room, she pushed him down onto the bed and quickly climbed onto his lap before he could get up.

"Okay, not Penny, cool-" he hissed, grabbing her hip to push her off, only to get grabbed by the hair and forcefully kissed. He grunted as he felt her grinding against his boxers. He felt himself get pushed onto his back, and the grinding continue.

"Please… I wanna feel you," she begged.

Digger knew how entirely wrong it would be to go through with this. He should just push her off and lock her in the room. But he didn't. He grabbed her hips and made her grind harder.

"That's it…" she breathed, her voice a mix of Penny's and Stone's. "Just like that…"

That was the last thing he remembered, before everything blacked out.

The next thing he knew, he and Penny were both naked, panting and lying next to each other in her bed, tangled in her sheets. He sat up straight and backed away from her. Her eyes were open wide and she was staring at the ceiling. "P-Penny, what the hell just happened?!" he gasped. Her head turned slowly towards him, and he could see that she was crying, her eyes now hazel-brown again.

"H-He was in my head," she breathed. Digger looked up as he heard the front door open, and got up, putting on his boxers and quickly covering her with her blanket.

"Just stay here, I'm gonna handle all this," he told her, hurrying out to the living room and grabbing his pants. "Lilith? Lilith is that-" He froze when he saw her walk into the living room. She was shaking violently and covered in blood. Her clothes were soaked in it and it was splattered across her face and drying onto her hands. "Fuck, what happened?" He pulled his pants on and hurried over to her.

"I didn't get groceries," she mumbled, backing away from him and staring at one spot on the floor.

"Y-Yeah, I can see that," he sighed, pushing some of her hair out of her face, wincing as it stuck to the blood. "What happened, Lilith, why are you all bloody?"

"You need to leave," she told him.

"What? No way," he took her elbow and started leading her to the bathroom. "Come on, let's getcha cleaned up-"

She turned and slammed him back against the wall, holding her arm up and pressing it against his throat. "You have to get out. That comment 'Just go with it, both of their lives might depend on it'? That wasn't just for you," she told him. He frowned.

"How'd ya know she said that?" he breathed.

"It wasn't her. It was Stone. It was… me," she admitted. He raised an eyebrow. "We can connect. He controls people's bodies and what they say, and I control their mind. I didn't want that to happen to Penny, I didn't want to use her for that. Stone took control. I had to black you both out so you wouldn't remember the actual… fucking part. It seems stupid, but trust me, nothing ever has any logic with him. I blacked it out for you, because I knew you wouldn't want to remember that."

"Kay, but why are ya covered in blood?" he reminded her. She looked down at herself.

"Both of your lives depended on it," she explained quietly. He glanced at her, seeing the slightest grey tint in her green eyes. "You have to get out Digger."

"Why?"

"Because she doesn't belong to you," she told him coldly. She closed her eyes tightly and gritted her teeth, growling. "Stop it!"

"Hey, calm down," he tried, putting his hands on her shoulders. She grabbed his hands, taking her arm off of his neck as she whimpered and started crying. "Lilith, no one belongs to anyone…"

"He wants you to leave, he's establishing his dominance…" she explained quietly. "You have to go before something bad happens…"

"Can'tcha just like… disconnect?" he suggested.

"I-It hurts… to do it, it's like my mind gets ripped apart," she told him, obviously terrified by the thought of disconnecting her and Christian's minds.

"Yeah well…. I'll be here. I'll help ya through it, and we'll get'cha in the bath and get'cha somethin' ta drink…" he said.

"Why are you taking care of me?" she questioned, sobbing. He looked taken aback, opening his mouth, closing it, and clearing his throat.

"W-Well… think of it as payment. For lettin' me stay here," he told her, smiling wryly. She trembled. "Get him outta ya head, love, I'm right here."

Lilith stared at him, then grabbed onto his arm and closing her eyes. He glanced around, seeing Penny sneaking out of her bedroom, wrapped in her sheet, tear stains running down her cheeks. She gasped when she saw her blood-covered friend, putting her hand over her mouth. Boomerang put a finger to his lips and looked back down at Lilith as her grip tightened on his arm, grabbing the other one for more support.

"Leave me alone…" she hissed. "Please, please, leave me alone…" Digger saw vines cover her arms and hands and run up his as well. She was tensing up, and her eyes were still shut tightly. He felt a sharp pain on his arms, and looked down at them, seeing thorns were pulsing out of the vines and stabbing him. He clenched his jaw and watched her. She cried out suddenly and the thorns fully pushed into his skin. He swore and she gasped, the vines disappearing and her body falling limp. He caught her as her legs gave out, and her eyes rolled back as she lost consciousness. He growled in pain, and lifted her up in bridal style, bringing her to the bathroom.

He started the water in the tub, making sure it was warm, and sat on the floor, holding her against him. Penny stepped into view of the doorway, looking terrified. He looked up at her. "Get me a cloth, will ya? Just dip it in the tub," he whispered. She looked down at her friend. "Penelope, I need to make sure she isn't hurt, get me a damn cloth-"

"Don't call me that!" she hissed, getting a washcloth out of the cupboard and throwing it at him. "What the hell just happened?! What were those things all over your arms?! Was that Stone?! Why was he in our heads?! How-?!"

"Quiet down, girl!" he scoffed, leaning forward and dipping the cloth in the hot bathwater, starting to wipe Lilith's face clean. "Look. Lilith's gonna have ta answer some of this stuff, it's not my place to explain. But… Stone is a metahuman. Like Superman. Or the Flash, or somethin' like that. Except… not good, so like eh-"

"Is Lilith like that too?" Penny cut him off. He hesitated.

"Yeah. But that's all I'm gonna say, she'll explain when she's ready," he told her. "Shut the water off, will ya, before it overflows." Penny looked at the bathtub and shut the water off, then knelt down in front of Lilith and him.

"S-She's not good either… is she?" Penny asked. Digger glanced at her. "S-She's killed people, hasn't she?"

"I don't know," he mumbled, moving Lilith to start taking her clothes off. Lilith jolted and gasped. "Hey hey, hey, it's alright, ya safe." She immediately started sobbing, holding onto him. He leaned back against the wall and held her, closing his eyes.

Penny watched them, trying to decide what to do. "P-Penny, I'm sorry… I didn't want him to do that to you. To either of you… I tried to stop him, but…" Lilith whimpered.

"It's fine…" Penny mumbled. Lilith ran her hand across Digger's arms and heard him hiss, gasping and sitting up when she looked down at them.

"W-What happened to your arms?" she asked frantically, holding them gently.

"Don't worry about it Lilith, let's clean ya up now," he told her. He glanced at Penny. "Would you mind waiting outside?" The girl nodded and stood up, leaving the bathroom and closing the door. "Can ya stand, sweetheart?" Lilith stood up carefully and took his hand to help him up. She was shaking and hugging herself. "Why does it always end up like this?" She watched him undress her, moving as she needed to until she was stripped of her bloodstained clothes. "I'll wash these out with vinegar…"

"D-Did I do this to you?" she asked quietly. He glanced at her as she touched the little stab wounds all over his arms.

"It's fine, baby, ya needed something ta hold onta. They'll heal soon," he told her. He unbuttoned his pants and dropped them to his ankles. "I'm helpin' ya wash up, don't wanna get my pants wet." He lifted her up and placed her carefully into the bathtub, lying her down. She blushed and thanked him. He just grunted and grabbed the washcloth again, starting to wash her up. "I don't know if yah ready ta answer this yet… but what happened? Whose blood are ya covered in?"

"A woman," she told him, almost too quietly to hear. He paused and looked at her. "I think it was one of his ex-girlfriends… he made me kill her. He said if I didn't do it, he would have Penny kill you while she was… possessed by him… by us…" She looked straight ahead and shook her head. "And then he was going to make her kill herself…"

"Where were ya?"

"Somewhere dark… and dirty… and cold… and he's so cold, Digger, his hands were all over me, and they were so cold…" she told him. "I don't want to be with him forever, I can't be with him forever."

"Ya won't be. Let's not talk about it. Sorry I brought it back up," he grunted. She blushed and looked down. "Move down so I can wash it outta ya hair." She didn't move, just looking down at the red-tinted water. "Come on, Lil, don't do this to me now."

"Can you leave me alone for a few minutes?" she asked, looking up at him again. Digger raised an eyebrow, then dropped the cloth into the tub and stood up. She watched him grab his pants and leave the bathroom quickly. Lilith closed her eyes and sunk further into the water, letting it cover her all the way up to her chin. She opened her eyes for a moment and watched red flow out of her hair and further tint the water she was bathing in. She didn't want to lie to him. She didn't want to change the story... she closed her eyes again and tried to forget what she knew she could never undo.  
\---

-2 Hours Ago-

"Want me ta come with ya?" Digger asked, setting his empty plate on the table. She climbed onto the couch a bit, kneeling over him and kissing him. He raised an eyebrow but kissed her back, putting a hand on her waist.

Lilith moved back and smirked a bit. "That's okay, you just wait for me to get back, okay, baby?" she told him sweetly, biting her lip. He blushed and nodded, leaning back a bit. She chuckled and got up. "I'll be back in an hour or so, I might go pick up some clothes or something." She walked towards the door, opening it. "Penny, text me if you need anything!" With that she left, closing the door behind her.

She could feel him. He had been trying to get ahold of Penny, and he'd been trying to get ahold of Digger. She got into the elevator and stared at the buttons for a minute, before pressing the button to bring her to the basement. She held herself and took a deep breath as the elevator took her all the way down, to the underneath of the building. When the door opened, she cautiously walked into the dimly lit hallway, starting to move down to a small closet-like area. She looked in nervously, and felt someone's hand grab her face, cover her mouth so that she couldn't scream.

"Sh sh sh sh," Stone purred in her ear, pulling her back against him. She trembled and struggled slightly, but he held her firmly in place. "That's a good girl. Hold still for me Rosie." She did as she was told. "You came to me. I didn't even have to play with your little friends. I'm going to. But I don't have to. You came back to me. Because I'm your one and only, right?"

Slowly, he lowered his hand, and she gasped. "L-Let them go," she begged quietly.

"Why? You don't really love that white trash Aussie, do you?" he chuckled. She tried to pull away from him, but he grabbed her hair. "Please, tell me you don't, my love, I don't want to have to lock you up and kill him."

"Let them go, Stone!" she snapped. He hummed and let her go, only to grab her and turn her around so that she faced him.

"Don't be so loud, my little Black Rose," he sighed, touching under her chin and making her look up at him. She quickly cast her eyes away from his grey, manic gaze, and he brushed his lips against her jaw. "I'm so lonely, Rosie… won't you come back to me?"

"I'm not in love with you, Stone…" she breathed, closing her eyes. He moved back slightly and looked at her. She made full eye contact with him for a second. A second too long. It wasn't long before his cold lips were on her's, and she had her hand on his cheek, and his hand found her waist and he started waltzing down the hall with her.

"There's my Rosie," he grinned, nuzzling the nape of her neck slightly. "I have a gift for you, baby girl. Two gifts, actually!"

His forehead touched her's and they made eye contact again. He grinned, watching her eyes turn a bit grey. And Lilith looked a bit horrified to watch his get a tint of green. She could suddenly see Penny in front of Digger, undressing him. "No, Christian, stop-"

"So you don't want me?" Penny questioned. Lilith knew the voice wasn't really her friend's, and she shook her head, trying not to cry.

"What's wrong with yah eyes…?" Digger asked.

"Oh, look at that, the brute's catching on," Stone chuckled. He grinned and tilted his head to the side slightly. "I dunno, Boomerang, what's wrong with my eyes?"

Except that Lilith heard Penny say it while she watched Stone do it. She watched as he bit his lip again and touched her lip with his thumb, all while Penny did the same to Digger.

"What is happening...?" the Australian mumbled.

Stone grabbed the back of her neck and pulled them closer together, reaching his hand down into her panties and starting to touch her. "What's happening, Digs," he said, and Penny echoed. "Is that you're going to sleep with this innocent little angel, because you want to." Lilith gasped as Stone started rubbing at her clit with his fingers. "Right? You want to fuck her. Because all you want is her body. Because Lilith doesn't really belong to you. She belongs to me. So she doesn't matter, it doesn't matter if you sleep around a bit."

"C-Christian, stop," Lilith whimpered, squirming against him. He just pulled her closer, closing his eyes a bit and licking his lips.

"Just go with it," he told her, kissing her carefully and continuing down her neck. "Both of their lives might depend on it." She gasped and grabbed his arm as he started fingering her. She could see Penny as she pushed Digger down onto the bed and quickly climbed onto his lap before he could get up. Meanwhile she felt Stone pulling her pants off.

"Okay, not Penny, cool-" Digger hissed, grabbing her hip to push her off, only to get grabbed by the hair and forcefully kissed. Lilith gasped and ground her hips against Stone's hand, and she watch Digger grunt as he felt Penny grinding against his boxers.

"Please… I wanna feel you," Stone begged quietly. Lilith realized that she was mirroring Digger. Whatever she chose to do would determine what he did. "Be careful, Lilith… don't kill them, now." She looked up at him and whined, grabbing him and kissing him deeply. She could see Digger as he grabbed Penny's hips and made her grind harder.

"That's it…" Stone breathed as Lilith tried to pull off his belt, his voice a mix of Penny's and Stone's. "Just like that…"

Everything after that was a blur. She knew that Stone took her to another room. She knew they had sex. She knew that somewhere in the building her best-friend and her lover were having sex in just the same way, and she knew that it wasn't fair to either of them.

And then, she was standing in front of a woman. A woman who looked too much like herself. "Here's part two of your present, my love," Stone told her. She looked over, seeing him sitting backwards in a chair, shirtless and smoking a cigarette. She looked back at the woman, who she realized was frozen in place in the chair. "Her name's Clara. She's lovely, isn't she?"

"Who is she?" Lilith asked quietly, although she knew it was a stupid question.

"She's just another girl who tried to run from me when all I wanted was to give her my love. But this one's a bit different, Rosie. This one's kinda like you," he grinned. She shivered.

"Stone-"

"You're gonna kill her, Rosie," he told her. She closed her eyes and looked down.

"I-I can't, she hasn't done anything to hurt me-"

"She's kinda like you, Rosie, she ran away from me and fell into the arms of the same… fucking… man," Stone told her coldly. Lilith opened her eyes and looked at him. He smirked. "Does that bother you? That Harkness will pick up any little damsel in distress that looks fuckable, and he does just that. He fucks them. He takes their stuff. And then he disappears one night, without even saying goodbye. And you love him so much, don't you…?"

"I-I barely know him, Christian, I never said I loved him…" she argued. She looked at the girl. "But you… you've been with Digger?"

The girl couldn't move, or speak, but Lilith saw tears fall down her face, and she gulped. This girl… she was just a little taller than herself, with just a bit more chub on her body. "He'll fuck anything with a pair of breasts, Rosie," he told her. "Even the fat ones, like Clara." Lilith glared at him.

"She's beautiful," she argued softly. "How can you say things like that. It's things like that that made me leave, Christian, because other than that you're so…" She watched him stand up and walk over to her, moving some of his hair out of his eyes. "... so beautiful…"

"You're beautiful, my Rose. And you'll look even more beautiful covered in her blood…" he whispered, putting a knife into her hand. She looked down at it, then back at him as he touched her jaw and pulled her into a kiss. "Go ahead. I want to see you beautiful like that again…"

He looked into her eyes and things started getting blurry again. All she could hear were the girl's screams and Christian's hysterical laughter, all she could feel was the hot blood covering her body, and the occasional icy touch of his fingers on her hips and his cold lips on the back of her neck. After a while, it was just a hazy grey, with red splattered here and there. She could she the girl in the chair, limp and torn apart. But the image was warped, and everything seemed to be spinning.

"That's it, now go back, my sweet girl. And pretend that everything's alright…" he whispered to her, taking the knife carefully from her hands. "Show them what I've made you… show them what you are…" Lilith started shaking as everything hit her. "All you'll ever be, Lilith… is a killer. You can't keep those idiots around. Because they'll die. You'll kill them. Like you killed your family." She felt him run his hands up her hips and waist and then his arms wrap around her. "And I think it's so beautiful… we're the same, you and me. No one will ever understand us, Rosie. We're freaks. We're dangerous. All we have is each other, my love. I don't want to hurt you, my sweet, I don't want to lock you up in a cage now that you've run from me. I'll just keep chasing you. Because I have nothing else… so go, now, my love, pretend that everything's alright…"

And then she was on the elevator, going up to her floor, staring straight ahead at the silver door. She could see her bloody reflection, and she felt like everything he said was true. She was all she would ever be.

A killer.  
\---

"Lilith, 're ya'lright in there?" Digger called into the bathroom. Lilith looked up from the blood-water but didn't say anything. The water was cold now, and she realized that she had encased herself in a vine-bubble of sorts. "Lilith? Yah not dead are ya?"

"Come in," she called weakly. "Please." She un-cased herself and started draining the bathtub, standing up and turning on the shower. She pulled the curtain closed as he opened the door, and started washing her hair.

"Yah been in here for almost an hour. Me and yah friend were worried 'boutcha," he told her, leaning against the counter. She didn't say anything. "Y'okay, doll?"

"Hold on," she said quietly. She finished washing her hair and scrubbed off her body quickly. Then she shut off the faucet and reached out for the towel that wasn't there. She sighed and got out, pulling a towel out of the cupboard and wrapping herself in it, then getting another one for her hair. "Do you know Clara?"

"Who?" he chuckled.

"Clara."

He waited for more clarification. "Clara who, love?" he asked.

Lilith turned to him and sighed. "Nevermind," she whispered, walking over to him and kissing him. He raised an eyebrow but kissed her back. "Can you make me feel better?"

"Sure," he smirked. "How can I help you, hot stuff?"

She looked up at him. "Tell me what you like about me," she requested. He sighed and looked down.

"Alright… um… I like yah body… and the way ya carry yahself. And the way ya talk," he told her. "And I like that ya don't give a shit. It's… different. And I like it."

"Now kiss me. And take me to bed," she said, leaning up and kissing him again, but more roughly. He hummed and grabbed her hips, pulling her against him.

"Ya sure yah alright?" he tried quickly. She looked up at him.

"Of course. Everything's alright."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Hope you liked this chapter! I do! Leave a comment/review for what you think, I really really love getting comments, it really motivates me to get my chapters up! I love you guys! And sorry if this chapter made anyone upset or anything, that's never my intention! Thanks for reading!


	4. Alligator Blood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Hey guys! I'm so sorry that this took me so long! I had to write an essay, do an art project, then I started a new job- life's just been crazy! Anyway, so here's Chapter 4! When I was writing Christian/Stone, I realized that I was picturing him to look like Andy Biersack from Black Veil Brides... not intentionally, just like, recent pictures of Andy are what Christian kinda looks like! But yeah, anyway, enjoy the chapter!
> 
> SIDE NOTE (November 1, 2016 12:15AM): This is the correct, edited version of Chapter 4. I will make a note about these changes when I post Chapter 5 as well, but if you have already read this chapter, sorry, I fixed the end... ENJOY

Lilith had been walking around the apartment for hours. Digger couldn't tell if she was actually trying to do something, if she was looking for something, if she was thinking. She just walked out of the bedroom, into the kitchen, shuffled some things around, walked to the bathroom, shuffled some things around, walked to the living room, shuffled some things around, walked to the bedroom, shuffled some things around, and then it all started again. This had been going on since 9am, and television had gone all the way through it's two and a half hour talk show, and had transitioned to racing. He hadn't been watching it, since he had been watching Lilith, but the longer the talk show went on, the more and more concerned he got. She was going through her living room run when he finally groaned in exasperation.

"What'n the hell are ya doin', woman?" he snapped. Lilith looked up at him and blinked. "Yah've been at this fer hours, what're ya even doin'? Ya'ain't gettin' anythin' done!"

Lilith made sure the magazines on the coffee table were in a completely straight pile for what must have been the thousandth time, then walked over to him and got onto his lap. "I need a distraction," she told him. "Distract me."

"From?" Digger questioned. Lilith stared at him. "Ya thinkin' about Stone? Lilith, yah fine, as long as I'm here."

"But you won't always be here," she reminded him. "You can't always be here, it's impossible…" He sighed, holding her in place. He was careful to avoid touching the bandage on her hand, which didn't seem to be bleeding through like the first one has. She had that scratch on her neck too, and he had the urge to joke that he couldn't even leave the apartment anymore. Of course, the last time he had joked about it she hadn't found it funny. Lilith had been… off, since the last time he had gone out. Understandably so, but still… "Digger, he's gonna come back, and he's going to take me, and he's going to kill Penny, and he's going to kill you-"

"Jesus, girl, 's that whatcha been thinkin' about for the past three hours?" he cut her off. She looked down at his arms as she ran her fingers over the little prick marks all over them, which were now almost healed over. "If ya needed a distraction ya shoulda just asked me when ya first started circlin' around the place."

"You could have asked," she pointed out.

"I figured it was gonna stop eventually. But it was startin' ta bug me, I had to getcha ta cut it out," he sighed, running his hands up her sides, pulling up her shirt slightly in the process. "Now let me distract ya, lovey, I don't need ya thinkin' all those silly thoughts in ya head when I'm right here to keep 'im away from ya." He touched her chin and pulled her down to kiss him. She immediately kissed him back, putting her hand on the side of his face and gasping as she felt his hands running back down to grab her ass.

It didn't take long for her clothes to come off and his cock to come out of his boxers, and for her to start riding him. But she still couldn't focus on Digger. All she could focus on was him, and what he had done, what he had been like when they had first gotten together, all those years ago...  
\---

"Aren't they beautiful?"

Lilith looked over at Christian as he walked up behind her and started kissing at her neck. He started turning her around with him in circles, so that she could see each girl in each cage. "This one's Bridget, she tried to call the police on me more than once. She's also too… blonde. This one's Maggie. She tried to kill me in my sleep, the crazy bitch, and she's too tan. This one's Bailey, she's just too needy-"

"Christian, why do you keep them here?" Lilith whispered to him, holding onto his hand as it crept over her shoulder. "How do you know them?"

"These are the girls that broke my heart, my love," he explained. "All of these girls promised me that they loved me, and then they tried to leave. I never did anything to hurt them, I loved them."

"B-But why do you keep them?" she stammered, feeling his grip on her tighten.

His teeth gently bit at her ear and he hugged her to him. "Because…. They're my pets. They tried to do what they aren't allowed to do- leave me -and now my men get to play with them whenever they want." He felt Lilith tense up. "But this will never happen to you, Rosie, you're special. You're my princess. You'll never leave me will you?"

Lilith was listening to the girls thoughts. They were practically dead on the inside, hopeless and lifeless and broken. But the one thing she could hear from them was that they were all scared for her. They wanted her to leave before it was too late.

"C-Christian-"

"Shhh… you aren't afraid, are you?" he whispered sweetly. She felt a pinch in the pit of her arm and gasped, wincing as he started injecting her with cocaine. She whimpered and held onto him. "That's my girl, you don't need to be afraid… I'm here…" Lilith felt her eyelids becoming heavy, then she started tapping on his arm and her eyes started blinking. "That's it… that's how I want you…"  
\---

"Digger!" Lilith gasped, her head falling back as he started snapping his hips up to meet hers.

"You like that?" he grunted slapping her ass and biting his lip. She grabbed onto his shoulders and whined out, letting her mouth fall open. "Yeah, that's it, babe, roll ya hips around like that."  
\---

"No, keep it in your mouth, Rosie," Christian had hissed, pulling the belt to keep it between her teeth. She had grunted and pulled against the ropes around her wrists. He pulled her hips back against him and grunted, pulling her hair. "That's it baby, that's how I want you…" He had continued to fuck her like that until he heard her sob and try to say something. He growled and pulled the belt out of her mouth. "What?"

"C-Christian, you're hurting me-" she sobbed.

"Shhh…" he told her, pulling the belt back into her mouth and slamming into her. She cried out and tried to pull away from him. "Shut up, Rosie, this feels good."

She spit the belt out on the bed. "Christian stop, this is really hurting my arms-"

He grabbed her hair and pulled her head back. "What did I tell you?!" he snapped. She whimpered. "Yeah… does this hurt?"

"Christian, please, this isn't fun anymore, it doesn't feel good, I wanna stop!" she screamed. He had just laughed.

"That's good. That means it's good," he told her, biting at her neck and continuing. "I'm enjoying this, Rosie, this feels so so good, please don't make me stop…" He continued whispering this to her as he fucked her.  
\---

"Are you coming?"

Lilith looked down at Digger and bit her lip, seeing him covered in sweat and practically shaking with the need to release. She realized that he was waiting for her. "D-Digger," she breathed, raking her fingers through his curls and let out a soft moan. She felt herself start falling apart, and kissed him, moaning into his mouth as she came around him. The sensation made Digger grunt and close his eyes tightly, grabbing her hips a bit harder as he came as well, shooting himself into her.

"Ya still thinkin' about it…" he mumbled after taking a minute to catch his breath. She watched him sit back on the loveseat and run his hands up her thighs. "About him… ya were thinkin' about him all that time, weren'tcha?"

"N-Not in a good way," she whispered, leaning against him.

He sighed and touched her throat gently, where a small cut had scabbed over and was starting to heal. "Hey, this is almost gone, lovey," he told her, trying to get her mind off of Stone.

Lilith just smiled and leaned down and kissing his shoulder. Yeah…" she agrees softly. Then she sat straight up when the front door opened.

"Hey, Lilith, I'm back! Have my-" Penny walked into the living room and stopped, frowning. "Oh. Well, I guess my parents aren't here yet."

"Oh, shit, are they coming today?" Lilith asked, getting up off of Digger. He grunted and put himself back into his boxers. Penny winced and looked away. "It's nothing you haven't seen before." She sat next to him on the couch and lay her legs across his lap.

"Some of us have a little class," Penny said coldly. "Could you put clothes on before my parents get here…?"

"Sure thing, Pen," he grinned up at her. She rolled her eyes and glanced at Lilith, quickly looking away when she saw Lilith staring back at her.

"I'm gonna have a drink. Can I get you anything, Lilith?" she questioned quietly.

"No."

"Oh. I'll just get myself something then. Do you want anything?" she asked Digger.

"Em… sure, just a tinny, I guess," he agreed.

"I'll get it," Lilith grumbled, starting to get up.

"No no, that's alright, I offered," Penny reminded her.

"Blood hell, I'll get meself a drink," Digger sighed, pushing Lilith's legs off of him and standing up. "Quit fightin' over me, will ya?"

"We're not fighting over you," Lilith told him, laying across the loveseat as he walked to the kitchen.

"Well then stop fightin', ya not getting anythin' done by bitchin' at each other," he grumbled.

Penny glared at Lilith. "Some of us just have a hard time trusting people who don't tell the truth," she hissed.

"I technically never lied, Penny, I just didn't tell you some things," Lilith corrected. "And who is some of us? Is that you, Penny?"

"Yeah, sure," Penny scoffed, giving her a tight smile. Lilith just glared right back at her.  
\---

\--Two Days Ago--

"Um… hey, Lilith?" Penny said quietly. Lilith looked up from where she was laying in bed with her headphones in. "W-What are you listening to?"

"Portishead... What's up?" Lilith asked, pulling one of her headphones out. Penny walked into the room and sat down on the bed. Lilith sighed and looked down, already knowing what this was about. "You want to know about the vines…?"

"Yeah… H-How long have you been able to do that?" her friend asked nervously.

"Um… as far as I know, since I was about four," she admitted.

Penny hugged herself. "C-Can I see?" she asked. Lilith raised an eyebrow and held out her hands, palms up, and summoned the vines around her arms. Penny gulped and watched them move up her arms and onto her hand, before they seemed to detach from her and were floating in midair circling each other. Penny moved back in shock and gasped.

Lilith glanced at her. "They won't hurt you," she promised.

"W-What are they?" she asked. Lilith shrugged, looking back at the vines as they circled and spun around.

"Did Digger tell you?" she questioned.

"I-I saw… a-after… Stone," Penny told her. Lilith tensed up.

"It's energy. Around me," she explained. "It feels me and I feel it. I control it…" She looked down. "But anyone else who can manipulate energy or the mind can manipulate me."

"Lilith we have to call the police," Penny insisted. "If he's after us, we have to call the police-"

"He's after me. He's just using you to get to me…" she corrected. "He's trying to hurt you to get me to go with him… he knows if he threatens your life I'll do whatever he wants."

"We have. To call. The police," Penny pressed.

"We can't. We have Digger here. And if Christian gets caught, he'll pull me down with him this time," she whispered.

Penny stared at her and stood up. "L-Lilith…?" she asked.

"I have," Lilith answered the question she hadn't yet asked.

"You have… what?" Penny breathed.

"Killed people for him. Because I'm scared of him," she admitted, staring at the wall stoically. "Because I never have a choice…"

"Lilith… he's crazy. You know that, right?" she inquired. Lilith didn't look away from the wall and raised an eyebrow, shrugged.

"Isn't everyone?" she pointed out. "Just a little? Most people are thinking how they wished their ex's were dead, or they wish their body type was someone else's. People are afraid of nuclear fallout and police brutality and God's fucking wrath. People created all of those things, they created their own fear, don't you think that's a little insane? People fear and hate other people just because their skin's a certain color, or because god forbid they love someone of the same gender. Some men look down on women because we're built smaller, and they think they can use us, they think they're superior just because they're bigger than us. Hate, fear, anger, power, they drive people to insanity, and we as a race have done that, don't you think everyone's a little insane?"

"Lilith, he's killed people," she snapped.

"Everyone kills someone or something in their life, Penny," she chuckled. "Whether it's a human or an ant, we all fuck with the system sometimes." Her friend looked distressed as she said this.

"Lilith, I'm starting to think there's something really wrong with you…" she told her quietly.

Lilith was about to agree when there was a knock on the front door. She stood straight up, and Penny looked confused and started to go to the door. Lilith grabbed her. "It's him," she breathed. Penny looked shocked and backed away.

"W-Where's Digger?" she asked frantically.

"He went out to do a quick job," Lilith growled.

"H-How do you know it's him? Maybe it isn't-"

"It's him. I can't hear him," she breathed. Penny looked confused and upset. "Penny stay in here, don't leave this room." She went to her bedside drawer and pulled a knife from the bottom where she had taped it. He knocked on the door again and she left the room, going to the front door and taking a deep breath before opening it. She gasped and stumbled back.

"Hey, baby," Digger said. She knew it wasn't Digger, it just looked like him. He even sounded just like him. She held the knife tightly in her hand and shook her head, trembling. "What's the matter, ya look all shaken up?"

"Stop it!" she sobbed.

"Stop what, darl'? I'm just standin' here," he chuckled.

"L-Lilith what is it? What's wrong?" Penny whimpered, standing near the doorway to the room. "I-It's just Digger…"

"Penny stay-"

"Yah, darlin', it's just me. Why don'tcha calm down and let me in?" he said sweetly.

"It's not him, Penny," Lilith said, not taking her eyes off of him.

"What do you mean it's not him, I can see him, it's Digger!"

"You can see him, sure! But you can't hear- you can't hear anyone, never mind, but I can't hear him!" she insisted. She looked at him. "There's one major part of your costume missing, Christian! I can hear Digger's every thought at maximum volume all the time, and I can't hear you at all!"

He stared down at her for a minute, smirking. "So why did you open the door?" Christian asked calmly, in his voice, glancing at Penny as a look of disbelief fell across her face.

"Because you would probably break it down anyway! Go away!" Lilith cried.

"It's almost like you want me to come inside!" he grinned.

"Drop the disguise," she ordered. He sighed and did as she said, pushing past her into the house and dropping the illusion that he was Digger. Penny gasped and backed up.

"You have a nice place here, girls," he said, looking around. "Mind if I stay a while?"

"Yes, I mind, you need to leave," Lilith insisted.

"Oh, but your friend doesn't mind if I stay. Do you Penny?" he smiled. Penny trembled and looked at Lilith for help. Christian walked over to her and touched under her chin. "You're so… cute. You remember me, right? I had dinner with you and your parents when Lilith still accepted that she belongs to me."

"Christian, you do not touch her-" Lilith started towards him.

"Or what?" he said coldly, staring down at her. She froze, but tried to keep her glare steady on his smug face. "What are you gonna do? Are you gonna stab me? With that knife, oh Rosie, I gave you that knife…"

"Christian, I will call the police," she hissed, watching him walk over to her and start circling around her. "I-I'm not kidding."

"Of course you aren't. I like your hair down, by the way," he said, putting his hand on her waist and touching her hair gently. She trembled and looked at Penny, knowing that she wasn't going to be able to fight him. He moved around to the front of her, still always keeping his hands on her. "How are you going to kill me?" He let go of her and leaned back against the wall, a strand of his black hair falling into his face, and his hands going into his leather-jacket pockets. He had always pulled off that 1950s greaser look, and she could never figure out how he didn't just end up looking completely ridiculous with his white tee-shirt tucked into his washed out jeans, and his hair all done up in that messy, partially combed back hair. Of course he modernized the look with his gauges, and tongue and septum piercings. "Oh honey, you're swooning…"

She shook her head and walked up to him quickly, holding the knife to his throat. "I'm going to kill you! I'll do it, don't think I won't!" she screamed. Christian licked his lips and pulled his hands out of his pockets, putting them up in surrender.

"Go ahead," he encouraged, smirking at her. Her hand trembled as she held the blade to him, and she watched his eyes fall closed and his head tip back slowly to give her a better range of his throat. She saw it touching his pale, tattoo-covered skin and knew she wasn't going to be able to kill him. "Kill me Lilith… Do it… Just finish it already…"

Lilith backed away quickly, dropping the knife and hugging herself as she started to cry. He chuckled and stood up from the wall, bending down awkwardly to get the knife, then standing back up and looking down at it.

"All the people you've killed with this knife… and you still can't kill me…" Christian said softly, turning the knife in his hand and walking up to her. He looked down at her as he stopped in front of her, rocking back and forth between each foot. "You know, I do it on purpose. Block myself from you, I mean. I could show you thoughts in my head, I could let you hear me, but…" He laughed a bit to himself, looking over at Penny, then back at Lilith. "But I know what it's like to snap… to unhinge. I don't want that for you. Not yet."

"You think you're so special," Penny growled.

Christian looked over at her, surprised. "She speaks!" he grinned.

"You think you're so much better than her, that you deserve her, that she owes herself to you… she doesn't," she continued. "You think you're special but-"

"I'm not," he finished for her. "I really don't think I'm that special. I think I'm schizophrenic and letting Rosie in on that little world just wouldn't be fair."

"You aren't schizophrenic," Lilith sighed. He looked at her. "You're a psychopath."

"Well that's not nice," he pouted.

"If someone came up to you on the street and asked you to show them directions somewhere, what would you do?" she asked, looking at him and wiping her eyes.

He stared at her for a minute, his expression blank. "I would… I would tell them to follow me, then bring them somewhere without a lot of people… yeah, psychopath is fine," he agreed, putting the knife against her throat. She gasped and tried to move away, but he grabbed her and held her still. "I just… I like blood so much, you know?"

"I know," she said tightly, staring down at the knife. She winced as she felt it scratch her skin as he pulled it away from him. He bent down and licked the blood from the small wound, shivering before standing up straight again.

"I love seeing you covered in it. Like a few weeks ago… or whenever that was," he grinned. He turned and brought the knife up, as if he were going to cut Penny. Lilith gasped and jumped in front of her friend, holding up her hands and surrounding them in vines as he sliced across them. He stumbled back when the vines deflected the weapon, and he grinned. "Oh look at you, my Black Rose…"

"Black…" Penny whispered. Lilith froze and turned to look at her. Back when Stone had started on his serial killing spree, back when Lilith had helped him, they had always left a paper black rose with each victim that died by her hand, because of the name he had given her. The media had immediately grabbed it, and had dubbed the serial killer Black Rose…

"Penny didn't know?" Christian chucked

"Penny didn't know anything until today, really," Lilith breathed, still looking at her friend.

"Oh, you'll send her into shock, baby!" he laughed, grinning wickedly.

"You were Black Rose," Penny said, looking shocked. She backed away from Lilith, looking at Christian, then back at her. Lilith grabbed her.

"You can't call the police, Penny," she gasped, once she realized that's where her friend was going.

"You're a murderer! You've killed people!" she screamed.

"Everyone I killed was someone who hurt me!" Penny stopped and looked at her. "B-Before I lived with you… before I got in foster care, after I- after my Aunt. I had to… sell myself, to get money, I worked in a club…"

"You weren't even fifteen when you came to live with me," Penny breathed, looking horrified.

"East End's a hell of a place," Lilith agreed. "Penny, I know it's a lot to ask, but I need you to not tell anyone, any of this."

"What about Digger…?" Penny asked, her expression turning angry. "He already knew all of this, didn't he?" Lilith hesitated. "You told him, and you barely know him, but you didn't tell me, and I'm your sister-"

"You aren't my sister, Penny." Penny stared at her for a minute, then shook her head and looked down. "You can't tell anyone. About the vines, about reading minds, about Black Rose. And Digger can't know that Christian was here today, okay? He needs to think I can handle this."

"You still call him Christian…" Penny said softly. Lilith raised an eyebrow. "After everything he's done… you still call him Christian…"

Lilith felt him take her hand gently. "That's his name, Penny, do you want me to call him Stone?" she sighed.

"He's not even human anymore! He's a monster," she tried.

"I mean, technically he's no less human than he was when I was with him-" she pointed out, gasping and looking back when she felt a sharp pain in her hand. Christian had put the knife on her palm and was slowly slicing across it. "Christian, what the hell?!"

He looked up at her and quickly pulled the knife away, then looked back down at her hand. "O-Oh…" he mumbled, looking down at the bloody knife and hesitating. "Sorry."

"Give me that…" Lilith sighed, taking the knife from him and wiping it on her shirt. Then she looked down at her hand, seeing that is was bleeding heavily. He quickly grabbed it and started licking the blood up, making her drop the knife as she hurried to try and push him away. "What the… Can you just…. Seriously, stop it Christian, I need, like, a bandaid or something, not you licking me!"

"You're a psychopath too…" her friend realized. Lilith looked at her. "You aren't afraid that he's going to kill you… you're-"

"I'm afraid he's going to kill you Penny," she told her honestly. She saw Christian stand up straight out of the corner of her eye.

"That's a silly thing to be afraid of," he said with a laugh. She rolled her eyes. "I won't kill any of you… not right away at least. Penny, you're just so special, I can't just kill you, I have to make it last… I have to make it hurt for a long time, I have to do it slowly…."

"Jesus…" Lilith growled, smacking her head against the wall and turning around to punch him in the face. He stumbled back, touching his jaw and chuckled. Some of the blood from her hand was smeared across his pasty-white cheek and he licked what was closest to his lips.

"You know… you always tasted the best…" he said quietly. She grimaced. "Women usually taste the best… but your blood is the sweetest I've tasted…"

"You haven't started eating them have you?" Lilith tsked, covering her mouth to hide that she was chuckling, that that had been a joke.

"No, my dear, not yet, I just enjoy the metallic taste of human blood," he grinned. Penny gagged a bit and covered her mouth, starting to cry. Christian looked over at her.

"Don't. That's not a normal thing to say, and if she can't take it, it just shows that she knows what you are," Lilith stopped him, figuring he was going to say something much worse.

"And what am I?" he questioned calmly, walking up to her again. He put his hands on her hips and put their foreheads together. She glared up at him. "Huh, Rosie, what am I?"

Lilith stared at him, watching his mouth slowly curl into a grin and a laugh start bubbling in his throat. "I already told you what you are," she said quietly. He stuck his tongue out, the black metal of his piercing a stark contrast to the pink muscle, and she noticed his grey eyes looking down at her lips.

Before she knew what was happening, they were kissing, his fingers gently brushing along the skin of her hips. She trembled a bit and brought her hands up to push him away, but her hands found his hair instead, and she ran her fingers through it, pulling him closer. She winced at the pain that was still shooting through her hand and realized that she was probably covering his hand in blood. She went to pull her hand away, but he grabbed her wrist and looked at her.

"No… that's alright," he said gently. "I want to be covered in it…"

"Christian-"

He put her hand on his face and he shivered. "It's hot… I like blood because it's so damn hot, Rosie, and I'm so damn cold… I should be known as Ice Man or something like that," he laughed.

"Stone cold," she pointed out quietly, trying to pull her hand away from his ice cold skin. He kept it in place.

"I like you too. All that… energy. It burns me, and I need it," he growled, grabbing her hips and shoving her against the wall. She gasped as he started kissing at her neck, and she came to her senses enough the smack him across the face. He let her go and moved back, only to smack her right back. She stumbled back, running into Penny, who grabbed her to keep her from falling. He growled and walked over to them. "Don't. Do. That." Lilith was shaking and he touched her cheek gently. "I would never hurt you, Lilith, you just have to understand…."

"You need to go," she said coldly.

"Come with me," he pleaded.

"I want Christian back," she blurted, glaring at him. He looked taken aback and she covered her mouth as she burst into tears. "I hate this. I want the Christian I knew!"

"I'm only that Christian for you…" he whispered.

She felt Penny move next to her, and she quickly grabbed her wrist. She didn't know when her friend had grabbed the knife off of the floor, or whether or not Stone had noticed. All she knew was that the tip of the weapon was centimeters away from his shoulder when she stopped her.

"What are you doing?!" Penny cried. "I could have ended this, I was gonna stab his heart!"

"Actually," Christian chuckled, taking Lilith's hand and Penny's wrist and moving them and the knife closer to the center of his chest. "You would have stabbed my shoulder. My heart's right here."

"Let go, Lilith-"

"Drop the knife," Lilith ordered, anger in her voice. Penny looked surprised, and Lilith squeezed her wrist until she gasped and let go. The knife rang as it hit the floor and Lilith quickly pushed Penny back, standing between her and Christian.

"Your lack of… parental guidance has left you with the idea of independence. Of… maturity. Oh, Penny," Christian laughed. Penny glared at him, and Lilith stared at the wall. "Penny, Penny, Penny… Penelope… Penelope Agnos… your innocent never fails to amuse me."

"I'm not that innocent, scumbag," she growled.

"When are your parents coming?"

Lilith looked over at him and Penny looked shocked. "How do you know they're coming?" Lilith asked.

Christian just smiled, and they all glanced at the door as it opened. Digger froze in the doorway when he saw that Stone was in the apartment, then his face twisted into anger and he started forward. "The hell're ya doin' here?" he growled.

"Leaving, actually," Christian smirked, looking at Lilith, who looked back at him. He bent down and picked up the knife by the blade. When he stood back up, he held it out to Lilith, who took it and crossed her arms. "I'll be around… you'll be hearing from me really soon, I promise..." They maintained eye contact while he walked to the front door, passed Digger, and went to the elevator.

Digger watched him leave, then quickly closed the front door behind himself and locked it. Then he turned to Lilith and Penny. "Are you okay? There's blood all over the floor," he inquired nervously. Before he could even finish the sentence, however, Lilith shoved Penny away from her doorway and went into her room, slamming the door and locking it. He raised an eyebrow and looked at Penny.

"She… they… she's Black Rose…" she breathed, looking at the door, then hurrying into the living room. Digger followed her. "They… he came here, and he tried to manipulate her or something, then he cut her, and she started acting weird, then they kissed, and she got even weirder, and-"

"Wait, wait, wait," he cut her off. "They… kissed?" Penny gulped and nodded. "Oh... like… consensually?"

"I-I think so…" she agreed. Digger blinked and nodded, looking behind him at Lilith's door. "P-Please don't leave, she says she can protect herself, but she can't she still loves him-"

"No. He makes it seem like that, but she knows that's not true. Trust me," he scoffed, still watching Lilith's door. "He's a cold-blooded killer. She's… she doesn't know she gotta choice in her own lifestyle…"

"Have you killed people?"

"' course," he said. Penny didn't say anything for a moment.

"I-I almost killed Stone…" she told him. He looked at her. "I had her knife, and I almost stabbed him, and she stopped me."

"Good thing she did," he said angrily. Penny frowned and opened her mouth to argue. "No, Penny, I know ya think ya were doin' a good thing, but… three things. One, Stone knew it was comin'. Ya wouldn'a gotten as far as Lilith stoppin' ya if he hadn't wanted Lilith ta stop ya. Two, if Lilith had decided not ta stop ya, Stone would have hadcha on the floor screamin' in less than a second, and he wouldn't be merciful, neither, he'd make ya hurt, then he'd kill ya. Three… if ya'da killed him, ya never would'a come back from that. Ya'd be just as bad as Lilith, or me. And ya too good ta fall into that."

Penny hugged herself. "She's just as bad as him," she scoffed. Digger raised an eyebrow. "You're no where near as bad as her. You deserve better."

"Ya don't know me, sweetheart," he chuckled, walking over to Lilith's door and knocking.

"My parents are coming in two days. If you're going to be here… both of you, then you need to stop being… the way you are," she told him. Digger sighed and looked down.

"Penny… Lilith's exactly the same as she was when ya guys got to Oz, probably the same as she was in the States. Ya eyes're just open now…" he told her. Penny thought about this and looked down. "I'm sorry…" She looked up. "The world's a much nicer place when ya keep yer eyes closed…"  
\---

"What time were they supposed to be here?" Lilith asked suddenly, sitting up from the couch.

Penny glanced over at her then sighed. "Noon…" she told her. "I've been trying to call them for, like, four hours."

"You have?" she asked, shocked. Penny nodded, and Lilith looked down at her phone and saw that four hours had really passed. "O-Oh no…"

"'S she outta it?" Digger asked, coming into the living room and over to Lilith. Lilith looked up at him and stood up. "There ya'r, lovey, yah haven't been talking fer hours."

"Check your phone," she said without thinking. Digger raised an eyebrow. "Just check your phone, Digger, he texted you."

Digger and Penny both looked at each other, and he took out his phone, seeing that he did in fact have a text from an unknown number. "How'd ya know?" he asked worriedly.

"He said 'your lack of parental guidance', Penny," she said to Penny, ignoring Digger. Penny hesitated. "He likes to play with words, you think you're so independent, you think you're so mature, and you're innocence is so… amusing to him. Your actual innocence? Or was he hinting that you were missing something?"

"Lilith, I don't understand," Penny whimpered.

"Read the text, Digger," Lilith told him. He had just opened the text, and was reading through it. He froze and looked up at her, then Penny, then back down at the phone. "Read it out loud, only I know what it says now, she can't hear it in your head, she needs to know."

"I-It says sorry about the delay. Sofia and Alex Agnos got a bit preoccupied on the way to see their daughter, Penny. Don't worry, I'll make sure they're nice and cozy with me," he read. Penny gasped and looked at Lilith. "How'dya know he texted me?"

"He said he'd keep in touch," she pointed out. "He was talking to you. Sorry it took me so long to figure that out, I just spent the last four hours- mentally -simulating what he might do next."

"And he would… take her parents?" he questioned. She nodded slowly and started walking towards her room.

"Oh god… oh god, oh my god," Penny sobbed, covering her mouth and curling into a ball. "W-What do we do?"

"Wait," Digger answered, looking down at his phone before putting it away in his pocket. "We have ta wait for him ta tell us what ta do..."

"We can't just wait! My mom and dad are gonna die!" Penny screamed.

"Your mom and dad are fine. He won't hurt them until he needs to, not until we deny him what we want..." she told her, turning back to her, then walking into her room. Digger shook his head and followed her. He closed the door behind him and sighed.

"She's scared, Lilith, ya can't just act like this is alright-"

"It's not, it's not alright," she agreed, turning to look at him. She had tears running down her face and he hesitated. "This is because of me that this is happening. I should just go with him, then he would let her parents go-"

"Come on, that's ridiculous," he scoffed, walking over to her and kissing her head gently. She looked up at him and in that moment she just looked so hopeless… it broke his heart in a way that he couldn't explain. "D-Don't look like that, lovey, it's alright…"

"I'm scared," she admitted. "I'm going to have to go with him, and he's so terrible, Digger." She put her hand on his face then quickly pulled it away, backing away and hugging herself. "You don't have to stay with us anymore, I can handle it."

"Woah, that was a big jump," he said nervously. "I wanna stay, I-"

"Why? Why do you want to stay?" she snapped. "What am I to you, other than some girl? What is Penny? Are you just bored, is that why you're here? You aren't a hero, Digger, you shouldn't care!"

"Lili-"

"You should have left that night," she continued. He looked taken aback. "The night we first met, we should have left it as a one night stand, and you should have left while I was asleep. I don't even understand what you're still doing here. We're not together, you're not my boyfriend. We aren't in love, you don't need me, so why are you still here?"

Digger didn't say anything. He didn't know how to answer that question. "Come on, let's lay down, Lilith," he sighed, starting to walk towards her.

"Go take care of Penny," she said, backing away from her. He hesitated. "You need to distance yourself from me, if you're going to stay. You need to leave me alone. He's so calm now, he's going to be nice, he's going to wait, but it won't last long. He's angry that I care about someone other than him-" She turned red and got onto the bed, laying down with her back to him. "You need to stay away from me."

Digger still didn't really know what to do or say. She was making this so difficult, why did she have to make him feel so… he couldn't explain how he felt, either. Dammit all. "I'll be right here. Fuck what he wants," he scoffed, walking to the door, opening it, and closing it behind him as he went into the living room to calm Penny down.

Lilith lay her head against the pillow, and held up her bandaged hand. There was blood seeping through the bandage again, and it was burning her skin, which she realized was unnaturally cold...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Thank you guys for reading! Again, sorry for taking so long! I appreciate everyone's patience! Let me know what you though of this chapter as a review/comment! Thanks again and I will get Chapter 5 up ASAP!


	5. Would You Still Be There?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Here's Chapter 5 for you guys! Again, sorry that it took so long, work has been killing me, and I went to an Asking Alexandria concert last night so I couldn't write. But I spent all day writing and editing this chapter, so I hope you enjoy it! We're getting close to the end of this story, I'm guessing two or three more chapters and an epilogue! Slight gore in this chapter but not too too bad. I hope you enjoy this chapter!
> 
> Side Note: Oh and to anyone who's said they don't like the Christian/Stone parts of the story: sorry, he's the main antagonist, he's gonna be with us till the end of this story. And the repetitiveness of his plot is entirely intentional, sorry if it's boring, but there's a point to it.

Lilith hadn't moved much from her bed in the week following Christian's visit, and learning that Penny's parents were being held captive. She had gotten up to use the bathroom or shower occasionally, but that was about it. She didn't even get up to get food.

Digger didn't like her like this. It made him nervous to see her so upset and unresponsive, and he wasn't even that sure of how to deal with it. He would bring her the food that Penny made, but she barely ate any of it, and he would come in and try to talk to her, but she would just stare silently into space. It was getting to the point that she was constantly shaking and he could hear her stomach growling all the time, and he was pretty sure she was sick, but she still wouldn't move. He was actually starting to lose patience with her, and it got to the point where he had to say something.

"Alright look," he finally said, one week after everything. He came into her room and closed the door behind him, crossing his arms. "Yah done enough layin' around. I've taken care'a ya fer a whole damn week, Lilith Fey, and ya gettin' sick, and ya'ren't any closer ta findin' Penny's Mum and Dad, and I been takin' care'a ya! Me! It should be the other way 'round, shouldn'it?!" He watched her slowly sit up and look at him. "And I ain't even had sex in a whole week, I been all alone on the couch with me hand! I could do that at me own place, I don't need to sit 'round here 'n do it!"

Lilith sighed. "So why don't you go?" she questioned, her voice hoarse from a week without speaking.

He opened his mouth, then closed it. "W-Well… I'm too far in now, ain't I! Stone's after ya and ya friend, and I can't leave ya two alone with all that goin' on-"

"You could," she argued.

He tensed up and walked over to the bed, grabbing her arm. "Now you listen here, girly," he growled. "I been spendin' me own time and energy to take care of ya while ya been layin' here like a weak little thing, and I know nobody asked me too, but I got enough human left in me to know that I couldn't live with meself if I left ya'lone!" She gulped and nodded weakly. He let go and frowned when he realized that she was too weak to fight back. "But it's time ta get ahold'a yahself. 'nough'a this bullshit, ya hear me? I'm gonna bring ya in some food, and ya gonna sit there and eat it, then ya gonna get up and take a shower. And we're gonna go up on the roof and get ya some fresh air 'n sunlight, cuz ya look like a sheet a paper."

He didn't wait for her to answer before opening the door again and going to the kitchen to get her food. Penny was acting meeker than ever, but at least she had a hold on herself and was dealing with the situation with some damn grace. He took the plate as she handed it to him, and thanked her, going back to Lilith's room and holding the plate out to her. "There's more in the kitchen if ya want it. But yah gonna finish that whole plate first," he insisted, watching her take it with shaking hands.

"Can you sit with me?" she asked.

"Only if ya talk ta me," he agreed sitting down. She started eating slowly, and he asked her how it was.

"It's good… it tastes good," she mumbled. He sighed and watched her.

"Yah're a piece'a work, babe…" he told her.

"I didn't mean to get like that… I just wish I could change things… I wish he would leave us all alone," she said.

"I know," Digger nodded, laying back on the bed. They didn't say anything for a moment as she continued to eat. Then he sighed again. "Ya know, I came back with ya that night with the intent'a leavin'. I wasn't gonna stay."

"I know," she agreed quietly, finishing the plate and setting it on the nightstand.

"But ya showed me all the stuff ya can do. Ya trusted me with stuff even ya friend didn't know, even if it was by accident that I saw it. Ya had ya guard down fer a dirty, scummy guy like me, and I didn't do nothin' ta gain ya trust." He chuckled. "So why do ya trust me?"

She didn't respond right away, laying down next to him and kissing him. "I…" she started. "I could read your thoughts. I knew you were just a guy who was tired of being lonely- even if it was just for a woman in bed. And I was the same. And I knew that you weren't going to hurt me or steal from me or use me because you just wanted to share a bed with me."

He nodded slowly and held her. "Yeah…" he mumbled. She felt him run his hand down her side, his fingers brushing up and down her hips. "Alright, let's getcha up and inta the shower."

"I-I just took one yesterday," she mumbled. He shook his head and got up, picking her up off the bed and carrying her to the bathroom.

"I'm gonna have ta insist, lovey," he told her. He set her on her feet and turned on the shower. "Right, in ya go." He crossed his arms and watched her undress herself and get in. "When ya done, we're goin' outside."

"Ok…" she mumbled. He left the bathroom and went into her room to grab her plate. Her phone went off on the dresser and he jumped, swearing a bit and walking over to it with the plate. He glanced outside the door, then picked up the phone and looked at the text on her screen.

'There's a motel about 24 minutes away. I'll be in Room 104. I would come if you don't want Sofia and Alex to die tonight. The address…'

The text was cut off there and he swore again, looking around the corner again and unlocking her phone with the code he had seen her punch in a hundred or so times over the last month and a half. The rest of the text gave her the address and wasn't signed other than a heart emoji. This guy really was crazy…

"Ehhhhh… Lil, I actually got somewhere I gotta be, just came up," he called, bringing the plate to the kitchen and grabbing his coat and jacket off the back of the couch. He pulled them both on one at a time, hearing her mumble something back to him. He sighed and hurried to the bathroom, checking that he had all of his weapons. "What, love, I couldn't hear ya?"

"I said alright, I'll just lie back down," she repeated herself. He figured she must be exhausted if she wasn't even stopping him from going. "Where're you going?"

"I uh… I gotta go, ya know… rob a place, I'll be back a bit later, ya just rest," he lied, hurrying out the door before she could question him or try to get it out of his head. He quickly closed the door and went to the elevator, taking it to the ground floor and going outside.

The sun was just starting to set, and he made sure to keep his head down and take side streets as he walked. He tried to think of the fastest way to get there. The address Stone had sent was more or less twenty kilometers from their apartment, which was, what, a three hour, maybe three and a half hour walk? Fuck that…

Digger risked looking up to see if he could spot any cabs driving around. There was one a bit down the street and he flagged it down. The cab pulled over and he got in the back, letting the driver know what the address of his destination was. The driver started driving, casually asking him if he had a room at the motel that was their destination.

"Ehh… no, no, I just got a friend there, gonna pay 'im a visit," he half-lied, looking out the window and not saying anything else as they drove.

About twenty minutes later, the cab stopped in the parking lot of the motel and told him that it would be forty dollars. He tsked and pulled two twenties out of his jacket handing it to the driver and getting out quickly. He walked to the building, going down the line of rooms. He had started backwards it seemed. 107, 106, 105…

The door to Room 104 was slightly ajar, and he hesitated, putting his hand in his coat to one of his boomerangs before slowly pushing the door open. Stone was sitting on the dresser, smoking a cigarette and watching the door. He just laughed when he saw who opened the door.

"Oh, I see. She sent you instead of coming herself," he chuckled, watching Digger come into the room and leave the door open.

"Nah. She doesn't know I'm here. She didn't even see your text," he argued, glancing around the room.

"I see…" Stone mumbled again, putting his hands together and putting them in front of his mouth. "It's just me here. I don't have any of my guys. So, what are you doing here, Captain Boomerang, are you here to kill me? To be the hero for your woman-? No sorry, my woman. She belongs to me."

"Lilith doesn't belong ta anyone," Digger argued.

"It does seem like that, doesn't it? And she does tell you that," he agreed, chuckling and getting up off of the dresser. He went over to the side table and started looking through the drawers. "But Lilith is easily controlled. If you ever get a chance to call her yours- and I'm sure you will -you'll see that she practically asks you to own her. She argues it to no end, but as soon as you back off, she chases after you and asks you to take her back." He pulled the Bible out of one of the drawers and started flipping through it. "She really is a bitch in that sense. She'll cut your fucking hand off if you try to feel her up, but as soon as you walk away she follows."

"So ya compare her ta'a dog?" Digger scoffed. Stone shrugged and started ripping pages out of the Bible. "Ya ever wonder if maybe she doesn't want ta follow ya? It doesn't seem ta me that she loves ya at all. Ya know ya gonna have ta pay fer that, mate?"

"It's a fucking book!" Stone snapped, throwing it aside, along with the ripped out pages. Digger raised an eyebrow and watched him stand up on top of the bed. "Lilith doesn't love me anymore. I know that. But that's not how it fucking works. Lilith is mine. She's all I want and all I need, and she can't just leave… no no no, that's not okay at all… if Rosie doesn't love me anymore, then she's not special, and if she's not special, then she's just another whore that I have to lock away. And I know she's more than that, I made her." He grabbed his hair and tugged at it. "I made her, she's special, she is!"

"Ya tryin'a do the impossible, mate. Ya can't just control a woman. They got their own silly thing goin' fer 'em, and ya just gotta follow and wait fer the moment to get 'em in bed with ya. Then ya can getta hold of 'em," he told him.

"Thank you, female expert-extraordinaire!" Stone hissed, jumping off of the bed. "Why doesn't Rosie love me anymore? Tell me, what could possibly make her not love me?"

"Well, ya crazy, ya kill people, ya scary, that's three things," Digger told him. Suddenly he felt his entire body freeze to the spot and he gasped. He tried to move and it felt like all of his muscles were being torn apart, making him growl in pain.

"Don't try to move. It will just hurt you. Oh, it's been awhile since I've gotten to live up to my name, this is so fun," Stone chuckled. Digger glared at him and tried to move again, continuing to growl as the pain continued to rip through him. "You see, Cap, Lilith doesn't love me anymore because of you. She loves you now, not me!"

Digger gulped. "T-That… that's not t-true…" he wheezed out, wincing with each word.

"Isn't it?" Stone hissed, glaring at him. "You keep telling yourself that. But you know, I really think that, maybe, you feel the same way. Huh, have you gone soft, Boomerang?" Digger growled and struggled to move. "What you don't seem to get is that Lilith and me were made for each other! And everything we've been through together… well, we can't ever be apart again, Cap, and you really won't want her. Wanna little look at what a bad girl my Rosie is?"

Before Digger could growl out an argument, he started seeing flashes of Lilith from the past. They were all from Stone's point of view, he could tell, but he could see that Lilith was the focus. She was smaller, but not in a good way. She was nothing but skin and bone, her skin translucent and her hair shorter, cut to just below her ears. She seemed insecure, and nervous, but the memories gave off a false sense of pride and pleasure.

The first thing he saw was Lilith using her vines to kill someone. The energy wrapped around the person and the thorns cut their skin before she crushed them completely and let them fall to the ground. She looked like she might be crying, and she was having a hard time standing up, and Digger saw himself moving closer to her- no, Stone was. He wrapped his arms around her, and heard him tell her that she was so good for him.

That memory became another, more uncomfortable one for him to watch. Lilith was laying on her side on a bed, crying and holding her head in her hands. "It's alright, Rosie, I'm here," he heard Stone say softly, as he moved to kneel next to her. A syringe came into view and the needle was stuck into her exposed forearm. "There we go, baby, it's ok…" Lilith seemed to calm down a bit, but groaned when the needle was pulled out. The syringe was tossed aside, and Stone stroked her arm gently, hushing her. "Does that feel better, lovely? My lovely, lovely girl…" She tried to mumble something that sounded like 'please, stop' but Stone just kept hushing her until she started gasping a bit and her eyes fell closed. A hand smacked her and he forcefully ordered her to "wake up!" She whined and tried to move out of his grasp.

The scene skipped to her on the same bed, tied up and gagged, with Stone obviously having sex with her. "You like that Rosie?" he grunted. Digger could see that she was crying again, and she seemed to be in pain, and Stone seemed to love it. "You're incredible, baby, incredible…" She tried to say something through the gag and he just hushed her, grabbing her hair and pushing her face into the pillow. "You like this, baby, trust me, it feels so good…"

Digger could still see her trying to beg him to stop, and him continuing to do what he wanted, but now he heard Stone in reality. "Do you see? Don't you see how much she needs me? She can't live without me, and I need her," he told him. All Digger could see was that this poor girl wanted someone to love her, she wanted someone who she could trust. She wanted someone who was in it as much for her as they were for themselves. He probably wasn't the perfect one for that, but at least he gave a damn about what she wanted. At least if she told him to back off, he would, even if it was reluctantly. Suddenly he could see the motel room again, and he could see Stone tracing the frame of some rotting old painting across the room. Suddenly he could move his body again, and he immediately reached into his coat for one of his boomerangs. His movements were just as sudden, and without thought as Stone turned to say something that started with: "Do you understand now-?"

But the monster didn't get to finish his question as the razor sharp weapon flew across the room and went just past his head, cutting through one of his wrists. Part of the boomerang was stuck into the hand that had seconds before been touching the picture frame above it, and the curve of the weapon was lodged into the wall, keeping both the weapon and the hand in place. Stone's brain hadn't caught onto the severity of the situation, as he stared down in shock at his severed wrist, which was already bleeding heavily.

Digger started stalking towards him, a grin across his face as he watched the man cry out and grab his arm, stumbling back against the wall and fell into a crouched position as the panic and excruciating pain finally hit him. "It's been awhile since I got ta live up ta me name, isn't this so fun?" he taunted, mocking Stone's own words as he pulled his weapon out of the wall, and the hand with it, and wiped the blood off of the boomerang onto Stone's jacket, which lay on the dresser just to his right. He put the boomerang back in his coat and looked at the hand with a hearty laugh. "Well look at this, will ya?" He held the appendage out for Stone to look at, but the man was too busy panicking over his lack of it. "I could'a gone fer ya neck, mate. I almost did, truth be told, but look. Ya'a good bad guy, ya cool, mate, 'cha are. But I'm not personally a fan'a someone tryin'a place claim on somethin' that doesn't belong to 'em. See Lilith might not be mine, per say, but she's sure as hell more mine than yers. And I'll be damned if I'mma let'cha try'n tell me that she liked ya shootin' her up with coke, and makin' her kill people, and rapin' her. You my friend, are the definition of a psycho." He walked over to the bed and pulled off one of the pillow cases, wrapping the hand in it and stowing it in his coat. "I'mma let her decide what ta do with this."

Stone's eyes slowly met his, and Digger could see a wild, unhinged, almost terrifying rage shooting through them and he hissed out in pain. "You… you just made this… so much worse. For all of you," he ground out. "I'm not going to kill Penny's parents… B-But I'm not going to keep them alive for much longer either…. The next time I get in contact with Lilith… it had better be her that comes to me… or I'll make sure to kill you too."

"Oh yeah?" Digger chuckled, walking towards the door. "I'd like ta see ya single-handedly kill me. That's all ya got now anyways."

"Her parents are going to die…. Penny's going to die…. Hell, for this, you're going to wish I'd just kill Lilith and put her out of her misery… I'm going to make sure that every second she's tortured and raped and left to rot, that she knows that it's her pathetic little boyfriend's fault!"

"I'll let her know ya said hello," Digger called as he walked out the door of the motel and pulled out his phone to call for an Uber.  
\---

There was silence throughout the apartment, Digger noticed it as soon as he opened the door. He would have thought the place was empty, if he hadn't seen Penny on the couch, hugging her knees to her chest, crying and covering her face.

She looked up when he closed the door. "Where'd you go?" she asked weakly.

"Just had a little job ta do, that's all. Is she in here?" he guessed, standing in front of Lilith's door. Penny just tsked and nodded.

"She's been in there doing nothing while my parents are probably dying," she sobbed.

"Ya parents are fine, mate," he sighed, knocking on the door. The talking stopped and he sighed. "You're not doin' anything either, ta be fair.

"What am I supposed to do? It's her fault this is happening!" she snapped. "They could be in pain-"

"They're fine," he said again.

"How do you know their fine?" Penny asked coldly.

"I just do," he told her, watching the door swing open and feeling Lilith grab his arm and pull him into the room. "Oi, I thought I told ya ta rest up…"

"I've been resting up," Lilith mumbled, looking worried. She leaned up to kiss him, but he could tell that she knew that he had done something bad. "Where did you go?"

"I, uh…" he started. He watched as she walked over to the bed and sat down, wringing her hands nervously and watching him. "I had a little run in with our friend."

Lilith looked shocked. "Stone? Wait, you went to see Stone?!" she gasped.

"Yeah," he admitted. She got up on her knees. "He wanted ta see ya. So I went instead."

"Digger!"

"Yeah?"

"You could have died!" she hissed.

"But I didn't, now, did I?" he grinned. She looked nervous.

"Are you hurt? He just let you go?" she questioned.

"He was tryin'a get me away from ya. He got all in my head and tried to tell me ta leave ya alone. So ya know what I did?" he chuckled.

"What?" He pulled the pillow case out of his coat and pulled the hand out by one of the fingers. She gasped and covered her mouth. "You cut his fucking hand off?!"

"In self-defense!" he justified. "And ta defend you. He's a real prick, thinkin' he owns ya."

"Digger… oh my god…" she breathed, covering her whole face. "Y-You're crazy…"

"At least he won't bug us fer a bit. He's gotta wait fer his arm ta heal up a bit, and he probably lost a lotta blood," he pointed out, dropping the hand back into the pillow case and setting it on the dresser. She watched him pull off his coat, throwing it aside, then doing the same with his jacket.

"He didn't hurt you?" she asked again.

"Not at all," he said. She hesitated and sat back on her heels a bit. She shook her head and got up.

"You're seriously crazy…" she mumbled, walking over to the dresser and grabbing her phone, opening it. "Why didn't you tell me? Do you have any idea what you could have just done?"

"Look, it might be bad soon, but fer now, we're okay, he's gonna need time to get his wound treated, and then some recovery time," he told her again, walking to the bed and falling onto it. She just shook her head and put her phone down. "Hey, come here."

Lilith looked over at him and walked over, carefully laying down next to him. "I just… you risked your own life to go in my place?" she asked. He chuckled and touched her hair gently. "And you… you cut off his…?" She shook her head. "I don't know if I should call you an idiot or…"

"If ya should kiss me? I personally like the sound'a that," he smirked, looking at her and kissing her. Lilith sighed and moved one of legs over him, running her hand up to run through his curls. He cackled a bit and grabbed at her waist, pulling her closer against him and biting her lip. She gasped and he laughed a bit more, grunted when she moved to straddle him. He grinned against her lips and she blushed a bit. "See, doesn't this seem more fun than callin' me an idiot?"

"I can still do that," she pointed out. Lilith stared down at him for a minute. "But I should at least try to enjoy this one more time…"

"What?" he chuckled.

"What do you want to do?" she questioned, rolling her hips against his. He raised an eyebrow and moved his hands down to grip her ass firmly.

"Want me ta be brutally honest, want me ta tell ya bluntly, sweetheart?" he grumbled, watching her hips move against him. She hummed and closed her eyes. He took that as an agreement, so he sat up and grabbed her waist again, pulling them closer together. "Yeah? Can I tell ya what I want from ya?"

"Yes, that's what I said," she laughed lightly, watching him move one of his hands to grab one of her breasts through her thin tee-shirt. "Digger, what do you want?"

"I want a few things," he told her. "I wanna fuck ya, first off. By the end of the night, I'm not lettin' ya off the hook without rootin' ya." She smirked a bit at him and ran her fingers through his hair. "And I want'cha ta suck me knob."

"Do you?" she chuckled, leaning forward a bit as his hands came up to squeeze her breasts more.

"Yeah," he mumbled, putting his face against her cleavage. She leaned down to kiss his head. He breathed in and lifted his head to kiss at her neck, smacking her ass and making her gasp. He grinned and started to nip at her neck. "Do ya want that?"

"If that's what you want," she agreed breathlessly. He grinned and moved slightly so that his nose was touching hers.

"Great. What do ya wanna get done first?" he teased. She rolled her eyes and blushed. "I'm thinkin' the gobby first, cause we don't do that one a lot."

"If that's what you want," she said again, kissing him. He chuckled and kissed her deeply, biting at her lip and encouraging her to roll her hips against him. She shivered a bit and felt him run his hand down to her thigh, tapping it lightly with his hand to tell her to get up. She moved back and climbed off of him, sitting back on her heels and watching rush to pull his belt off.

He glanced up at her and chuckled. "Ya look scared, girly," he told her. She blinked and quickly shook her head, looking down a bit and waiting for him to get his pants off. "Hey…" He touched under her chin and kissed her gently before leaning back again. She looked up at him. "I'm tryin'a have fun with ya, and make ya smile." Lilith felt a small smile pull at her lips, and she moved forward on the bed to crawl over to him.

"You want a blowjob because you're a narcissist," she chuckled, crawling over him and kissing him quickly. Before she could move back, he put his hand to her cheek and she hesitated.

"Sure. Ya want me to return the favor, lovey? We could try out a new position?" he offered, taking her bottom lip between his teeth again and tugging gently before letting go. She shivered, then smirked a little.

"I'm not 69ing with you," she mumbled, kissing at his neck and down his chest.

"That's yah loss then, sweetheart," he grinned, watching her kiss down to the waistband of his boxers and adjusting himself so that he was laying down a bit more, then glancing towards the door. "D'ya think we should lock the door? Wouldn't wantcha friend walkin' in on us again."

Lilith looked at the door, then shrugged. "She won't," she told him, tugging at his boxers. "I think you'd look good in briefs."

"Do ya?" he chuckled. "Why'dya think that?" She looked up at him and raised an eyebrow and he smiled innocently. "I don't like 'em fer that reason. 'M too big to fit comfortably."

"But you'd look good," she pointed out, pulling his boxers off and tossing them off the side of the bed. "I get it though, it's like me and underwire bras?"

"What's wrong with underwire bras?" he questioned, genuinely confused. "Ya look fuckin' hot in 'em."

Lilith glared at him and rolled her eyes, grabbing ahold of his cock. He sucked in a breath and watched her start stroking him. "You know, Digger? Maybe if you used your head as much as you think with your dick, you'd have the answer to that question," she said sweetly, running her thumb over the head to gauge his reaction. He groaned and bit his lip for a moment, letting his eyelids droop slightly.

"How can I think about anything when I gotta gorgeous fucking girl in front of me, about to suck my cock?" he questioned, his voice shaky. She sighed and moved farther down to do just that.

"I don't know. Let's see what you're thinking when I'm actually sucking it." He let out a grunt when her lips wrapped around his head, and his hand immediately gripped the back of her head. She hummed a bit and pumped the base of him while she bobbed her head up and down, occasionally slowing down to let her teeth gently graze along the sensitive skin. Usually she wouldn't do that to a man, but from what she could hear from his thoughts…

"Fucking Christ!" he hissed, his head falling back onto the pillow behind him. She breathed out a laugh and let go of him to go all the way down on him. "Ooooh, bloody hell, Lilith!"

She brought her head up, her lips releasing him with a pop. "You're so loud," she laughed, rubbing her hand up and down his length. He looked at her, licking his lips.

"The way ya doin' that's too good, I can't even hold meself back," he told her with a grin.

"It's too good?" she teased. "Maybe I should-"

"No! Keep goin', girl!" he insisted, trying to push her head back down.

She pushed back against him and smirked. "Be patient, Digger, I won't stop," she promised. "I'm just going to take my time…." She went back down on him and his head fell back, his mouth hanging open again. She rolled her eyes and, as opposed to taking her time, started bobbing her head up and down his cock quickly, making sure to take as much of him as she could as quickly as she could and bring him to the point where he could only make loud, throaty noises.

"Lilith…" she heard him grumble, feeling his legs shaking and his grip on her hair tighten. "God, Lilith get up here. I gotta fuck ya before I cum…"

Lilith pulled away from him again and sat up, carefully pulling her panties off. She was testing his patience, she could tell, but she took her time to get them off, before dropping them on the floor next to her bed and climbing over to him. He grabbed her and easily placed her on her back, pushing her legs apart and settling himself in between them. He kissed at her neck, then sucked on one of her nipples, biting it gently and shivering at the way she gasped. "Digger-"

"Is there some magical stuff ya can do that ya didn't tell me about?" he questioned, spitting on his hand and rubbing it over his dick. She raised an eyebrow and watched him.

"What are you talking about?" she asked, breathless. She gasped as he pushed into her, and he groaned a bit, grabbing her thighs to get himself at a better angle.

"Ya know…" he tried, his teeth clenched together. "Just, every time I touch ya I lose control of meself and fall apart. I can't get enough'a ya, and I dunno know why. So I was wonderin' if ya, like, have some weird magic power that makes men fall fer ya? Makes men need ya? Like that chick in that show, ya know the British one, with the group'a superhero delinquents-?"

"Digger shut up," she hissed, grabbing onto his arms and letting her head rest on the pillow as he started fucking her.

"Hey, I'm tryin'a hold out as long as I can… fer you!" he pointed out, leaning over her. "I-I could cum… right fucking now, but what fun would that be fer you?!" She moved her hands to grab his face and pull him down to kiss her. She gasped into his mouth and shifted her hips up to meet his. He growled a bit and deepened the kiss, biting at her lip again and pressing their bodies so close together, that Lilith could feel his heart thundering in his chest. One of his hands grabbed carefully onto her hair, the other held her hip firmly as he kept on snapping his hips against hers, penetrating her and pounding into her.

The room was filled with the sound of their skin slapping together and her soft little moans and his deep growls. Digger was convinced in that moment, watching her underneath him, with her jet black hair splayed across the snow white pillowcase, and her plump lips parted slightly, and her tits bouncing with each of his thrusts, that she was the most beautiful little thing that he had ever seen. He knew that she didn't need anyone to take care of her, or to protect her, but he still felt like he needed to do everything to protect her. He knew that she was her own woman, her own person, that she belonged to no one, and yet all he could think while he stared down at her was 'this is mine'. And if he deserved the world, like he believed he did, then anything that belonged to him deserved the world too. But Lilith could never know that she was his-

"Digger, you… you need to stop thinking so loudly if you want to keep secrets," she told him, her eyes still closed and her body still moving with his.

"Fuck, I forgot about that…" he mumbled, putting his forehead to her's and kissing her gently. She sighed and ran her nails up his back gently, careful not to pierce his skin and draw blood. He let out a groan and brought his other hand down to grip her hips. She watched him now, as he threw his head back and pounded into her. Why did Christian have to make things so difficult…? If it wasn't for him, she could let herself fall for this man…

"Christ!" he grunted, snapping his hips once, then twice more into her, the movements jerky and sudden and each pulling a pleased whine out out her. He let out a noise that in any other situation would have made her think he was in pain, but she felt the heat of his cum spilling into her and she knew that he was done. He stayed in place for a minute, his chest heaving and his eyes gazing blankly at the ceiling. Then, once he came back to reality, he closed his eyes and put his head down, pulling out of her and falling next to her on the bed.

Lilith felt him wrap his arms around her, and moved closer to him when he pulled her to do so. She put her head on his chest and listened to his heartbeat, and closed her eyes.

He thought she belonged to him… he didn't understand at all.  
\---

"Hey, there ya'are."

Lilith looked up when Digger walked into the bedroom with a smile. She quickly looked down at her hands and picked at her thumbnail. "Hey…" she mumbled.

"Did ya sleep well?" he asked, sitting on the bed next to her and wrapping his arms around her.

"Yeah…" she lied. Truth be told, she hadn't slept at all that night. She had let him hold her, she hadn't moved, she hadn't cried, she hadn't said anything. She had just lay with him and tried to think of how to tell him that it couldn't be like this. And when he had woken up, and had gotten out of bed, she had stayed still and kept her eyes closed, and felt him kiss her head, and had heard him get his clothes on and walk out of the bedroom. "What are you up to today?"

"I've gotta few odd-jobs ta get done," he chuckled, putting his large hand over hers to stop her from picking at her nails. "But right now I'm gonna need ya ta tell me what's up." She just stared at his hand. "Can ya look at me?"

She hesitated and raised her head to look at him. He frowned, seeing the bags under her eyes and the way her jaw was trembling slightly. "I'm sorry," she told him quietly. She quickly looked down to hide her tears. She quickly grabbed onto his hand and leaned against him. "You're an idiot, you know that?"

"I'm getting mixed messages, sweetheart," he said, chuckling awkwardly. She moved her body so that she could turn and kiss him. He raised an eyebrow and moved away. "What's wrong with ya?"

"Everything from here on out is going to be… horrific," she said, her voice barely a whisper.

Digger frowned. "Well I won't let 'im hurt ya," he promised.

"No, Digger," she argued. She opened her mouth, then closed it and gulped, shaking her head. "I love… having you here." He looked a little surprised. He wasn't so stupid as to miss that near slip. "But you need to leave." He started to argue but she grabbed onto his face and looked him directly in the eye.

"Lilith…" he said sadly, seeing how afraid she was, watching the tears running down her face.

"Will you take Penny with you?"

"I'm not leavin'-" he tried.

"No, Penny can't go with you, you'll be too vulnerable together…" she breathed.

"Lilith, will you listen ta me-" he scoffed.

"You've played your part to the end," she told him seriously. He looked surprised. "And I'll never be able to tell you how thankful I am that you want to help, that you've helped… But you can't be in this anymore." She stood up and took his hand, pulling him up and out of the bedroom, to the front door.

"Hold on, you're talking like this is some kind of game," he said, confused.

"Everything's a game to him. That's why it's all been the same. He takes control and I have to fight my way out. He takes control, and I have to fight my way out. And he would have kept doing that, but now you've broken his pattern, and he's going to plan for a bigger and better boss battle. And if you're a part of that you'll die," she whimpered, holding onto his hand.

"Lilith," he sighed, touching her face. "I'm not gonna die, I'll be alright."

She just shook her head and grabbed his jacket off of the coat hanger, handing it to him and opening the front door, kissing him and pushing him out the door, closing it before he could get another word in. She leaning against the door, quickly locking it and waiting for him to leave.

Digger was staring at the door, shocked and a bit confused still. What the hell was she doing? Did she really think that she'd be safer all on her own? Or did she just not want him around? It had sounded for a minute there like she was going to tell him that she loved him… but that was ridiculous. This whole thing was ridiculous.

He shook his head and started walking to the elevator. He wasn't in love with Lilith. They weren't dating, they hadn't just broken up. Now he had some more time to himself, he didn't have to deal with her drama, what did he have to be upset about? He got onto the elevator and pressed the lobby button, watching the doors close and leaning back against the wall as the machine started moving downwards.

What did he have more time for now? He had to finish up a heist, then he could go back to his trailer and drink as much as he wanted, watch porn and have a wank, then sleep on the couch. And on his own, he wouldn't have to worry about Lilith bitching to him that Penny was really freaked out that he was doing that in their living room. He'd been just fine on his own for the past few years, nothing was different now.

He would just try and forget that Lilith was lost in a fog of manipulation and possessive domination.

It couldn't be too hard...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Again, probably two or three more chapters and an epilogue to this story before I start writing/editing/posting the sequel story to Black Rose. Leave me a comment on what you thought of this chapter, or what you're hoping to see from the sequel, or anything you can think of! The plot is almost entirely intentional and going somewhere, but if you don't like a part of it, that's fine, you can let me know that too. Thanks for reading guys! I'll post chapter 6 asap! You're the best readers ever!


	6. Don't Go

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Hi guys! This is a pretty long chapter, and focuses on Christian's and Lilith's pasts a lot, but it is very important to read if you are planning on reading the sequel fic to Black Rose when it comes out! Also it will be important in the chapters to come.
> 
> Side Note: Since the new Extended Cut of Suicide Squad came out, I will probably go back and revise/edit Black Rose before starting/posting the sequel fic!

Penny heard people talking when she came to. She wasn't entirely sure when she had lost consciousness in the first place, but now that she was starting to wake up, she realized that there was a cloth blindfolding her and her hands were tied behind her back. She had been at Church, and had walked out of the building and down the road, and had to take a shortcut, which she should have known was a bad idea….

"I don't care what I said before, you moron, I changed my mind," she heard a voice say. She held her breath and tried to stay still.

"Why do we have to listen to you anyway? What have you ever done for us?!" another man said.

"I dunno, I've given you something to do, I guess," the first man chuckled. She realized that it was Stone. "Look, I don't know if you're trying to, like, start a coup or something, but that's not gonna work out for you, buddy."

"Boss, she's awake."

Penny jumped when she heard another voice close to her, and started trembling. "Oh. That she is. Take the blindfold off,," Stone ordered. She gasped when the blindfold was pulled away from her eyes and she quickly looked away as her eyes tried to adjust to the bright light of the room. "Hey Penny Penny Penelope."

"If you aren't going to give her to us, then what are you going to do with her?" the other man questioned. Penny looked up, seeing Stone standing slightly above her and just shaking his head. "You told us we could have her. You said since John and Connor didn't get to have her, then we do. So where's our end of the deal-?"

"Did you just hear me?!" Stone snapped at him, turning and looking at him. "I changed. My. Mind. And you're just going to have to accept that. If you try to touch her, I've cut your dick off, if you try to leave, I'll cut every single one of your fingers off and shove them down your throat."

"What if I try to kill you?" the man questioned, pulling a gun out of his holster and pointing it at Stone, who just tsked and rolled his eyes. "You're a nutcase, and we don't have to-" Stone grabbed his arm and pulled him forward. The man shot off the gun in his surprise, and Stone let go of him only to wrap his bandaged wrist over the man's face and bring his other hand up to cut through the man's throat.

"What if you try to kill me? What if you try to kill me?" he repeated, contemplating the question. The other man only gurgled on his own blood before collapsing to the ground in front of Penny, his face hitting the ground with a sickening crack. Penny tried to move away from the body, whimpering in panic and sobbing in her throat, staring at his wide eyes as they glazed over and watching the blood pour out of his neck and pool around him on the cold cement floor. "What if he had tried to kill me, Penelope?"

"Stop!" she begged. "Where's my Mom and Dad? Where's Lilith?!"

"Rosie's not here," he told her, crouching down in front of her and grabbing onto her hair to keep her from moving away. "Your Mommy and Daddy are though. And I told them what a dirty, dirty girl you are, that you slept with that dangerous man and you enjoyed it."

"That wasn't me, I-I wouldn't do that," she whimpered. "L-Lilith said it was you, because you're horrible, and evil, and-"

"Lilith said I was horrible and evil?" he laughed. "No she didn't, that's just what you think. But it was me. Or at least, I was putting it in your head that you needed him. That you wanted him…." He moved so that their lips were almost touching, and she tried to turn her head away but couldn't while he was holding her hair. "You know I could see all of that, don't you Penny? You fucked the hell out of him! I mean, really, do you wanna watch it?"

"Leave me alone-"

"I can put it in your head right now, if you want. It's really amusing," he explained. "My favorite part is when you called him Daddy. Did you do that on purpose? Is that a little kink of yours Penny, do you want a big strong hunk to be your Daddy? You're a little angel, really you are, you'd be the perfect baby girl…. Maybe I'll keep you and you can be my baby girl." He pressed their lips together and she sobbed, trying to push him away. He bit her lip carefully, then let it go. "Do you want that? Do you want me to be your Daddy?"

"Go to hell," she hissed, spitting in his face. He closed his eyes so that it wouldn't go in his eyes, and he brought his bandaged arm up to wipe the saliva from his face.

"Now now, Penelope, that's not very nice of you," he tsked. "You just came from God's house, you can't tell me to go to hell." She cried out when he yanked her hair, and tried to think of how to distract him. Her eyes fell to his wrist.

"W-What happened to your hand?" she questioned quietly.

He held his arm up and looked at it. "Oh, this? Your good old pal Captain Boomerang cut it off," he told her. She looked shocked. "He didn't tell you? Oh, what a dick! You don't even know why you're here!" He shoved her back so that she was on her back on the floor. She cried out and struggled to get up, but the way her arms were tied restricted any movement. "See, since Boomy decided to cut off my hand- and it was my favorite hand, by the way -I told him that I was gonna take you, and make sure to kill you nice and slow. But first, I have to kill Mom and Dad, right? And make you watch?"

"Let them go, they didn't do anything to you…" she begged.

"Well, neither did you," he pointed out. "This is all because of Georgey. And Lilith, really, this is Lilith's fault. Because of her, you're mine now..." He took his knife and gently traced the blade from the collar of her dress, bouncing it over each button until he reached her crotch and stooped. "You're my little whore..."

"I'm not your whore!" she snapped.

"Oh come on, you gotta admit, I've got a way with girls," he mumbled, climbing over her.

"Yeah, you're really something," she growled. Stone laughed and sat up.

"Go check on her parents will you?" he said to the other man in the room. The man nodded and stood up. "Give us… what do you think, babe, ten minutes? Fifteen?"

"Don't touch me!" she screamed.

"Yeah, fifteen," he told the man. "She's gonna struggle. Take the stiff out with you." He grabbed the front of her dress and ripped it open, popping a few buttons and tearing the fabric a bit. Then he ran his hands up her waist, and licked his lips.

"Stop it! Get off of me, you pervert!" Penny shrieked, trying to kick him as the other man dragged the dead body out with him as he left the room. Stone immediately got off of her when the door closed and pulled her to sit up. She shuffled her way back and he sat on the ground in front of her, watching her. His legs were bent awkwardly due to his height, and he leaned his arms on his knees, staring at his bandaged wrist.

"You remember me, right?" he questioned, still staring blankly at the white bandage. "You remember when you first met me, I wasn't like this, none of this was like this… I mean it was, I was, but not openly..."

"You're… you're not gonna rape me…?" she whimpered. He moved quickly so that he was up on his knees, making her jump, and started shuffling over to her.

"I'm not like that, Penny, I'm not like that…" he whined, grabbing her arm. "I don't wanna hurt people, I really don't… Not right now, that could change with a-" He snapped his fingers and lay down on the ground in front of her, sighing loudly.

Penny hesitated, watching him put his hand over his eyes. "So… don't hurt people if you don't want to?" she tried.

"That's not how it works," he told her sadly. "Do you remember me?"

"O-Of course I remember you, you were Lilith's friend-"

"She was so beautiful and so scared and so alone," he cut her off, sitting up and staring at the wall in front of him. "So alone, so alone… so alone, she was just sitting there! And she was my age, I could tell, she was little, she was scared, she was so scared." He ran his hand through his hair. "And I went over and asked if she was lost, and she was so scared and she said she lived there. In that little alleyway, in the slums of Gotham, like a cat, like a fucking stray cat, and she was so beautiful…"

"She was okay… She lived on her own her whole life Sto- Christian…" Penny reminded him.

"Why? Why did she have to? That wasn't fair to her, just because her parents were afraid? She killed them for being afraid," he told her. Penny looked shocked. "She never told you? Oh my little four year old baby Rosie murdered her parents in cold blood in the streets of Gotham City. Because they were going to take her away and have her locked up." He put his hands over his mouth and stared at her.

"L-Lilith said… she said her parents got murdered and she got kidnapped…" she said.

Stone uncovered his mouth. "She lied, Penny. She's really really good at it, at bending the truth," he told her. "And she killed her Auntie and her cousin too. And she ran. She was all alone for all those years."

"How old were you when you met her?" she asked her voice wavering. She wanted to get the subject off of the bad things Lilith had done, trying to remember that Lilith would be the one to get her out of this, even if she had done those horrible things...

"It was Christmas Eve, 2002, so I was a little older than twelve... My Mom got really drunk and started a fight with my Dad, so I left. It was… freezing. It was snowing and God, it was something like six degrees outside, and she was just saw sitting there… people kept passing her by, not even looking at her, and she was freezing and she was hungry…."  
\---  
-December 24, 2002-

"I thought I told you to close the damn door!"

Christian looked up from his comic book as his mother slammed the door to the laundry room. "I-I'm sorry, I wasn't finished in there yet-" his father started.

"I don't want your excuses, I just want to understand why you can't do one single thing right?!" she screamed. Christian sighed and got up, grabbing his jacket off of the coat rack and sneaking out the front door as his mother brought his hand down to smack his father across the face.

He walked out of the apartment building and started wandering down the street. He reached into his pocket and hesitated before pulling out a five dollar bill that he had forgotten about. "Nice!" he mumbled to himself, continuing to walk down the street some more. He could probably get some hot chocolate or something with that… or something.

Once he reached the shadier parts of town, he kept his head down a bit and tried to pass through as quickly as he could. He spotted someone out of the corner of his eye and quickly moved out of their way, tripping over something and landing on his hands. "Fuck!" he gasped.

"I-I'm sorry, are you hurt?" he heard a girl say. He frowned and turned to look at the speaker, and his eyes widened and his cheeks reddened. She was the most beautiful, pathetic little thing he had ever seen, her chin length black hair messy and her big, bright, green eyes full of concern. She was covered in dirt and mud, and was nothing but skin and bone her lips tinted blue from the freezing air, her bruised, slightly frostbitten hands trembling as she reached out to help him up. "I-I didn't know I was in the walkway that much, I'm s-so sorry."

Christian quickly got up, looking her up and down. "That's okay, I'm not hurt," he lied, wiping his slightly bleeding palms on his jeans and wincing. She looked around and held onto her stomach. "A-Aren't you cold? Why are you out here all alone on Christmas?"

The girl blinked. "Are you stupid?" she asked.

"What?"

"I live out here. Can't you see by the ripped clothes and the fact that I don't have a coat?" she pointed out. He blushed. "Why are you out here? You look like you have people who'd miss you."

"I-I just wanted to take a walk…" he explained.

"You're twelve, your parents are fine with you walking around the East End?" she questioned.

"H-How did you know how old-"

"Don't tell anyone I'm here. Ok? Sorry I tripped you," she said, moving carefully towards the building they were in front of.

Christian gulped and pulled the five dollars out of his jacket. He hesitated and put it in his jeans pocket, then took the jacket off. "W-Wait!" he said. She stopped and turned to look at him. "H-Here. It's too cold to be out here in just a tee-shirt…."

"Won't you be cold?" she asked.

"I'm ok," he told her. She stared at him, then nodded.

"Thanks…" The girl crouched down in the alley near the building and put his jacket on, giggling a bit that it was so big on her, but hugging herself and enjoying the warmth. Christian gulped and hurried off, away from the girl and towards the McDonald's, which he knew wasn't too far away.

Lilith closed her eyes a bit, feeling the stinging sensation of the heat returning to her frozen body, and grabbed a piece of torn up cardboard from underneath a garbage bag. She lay it down on the ground near her sitting spot and climbed on top of it to lay down. She wished she could have given the boy something to thank him for giving her his jacket… She hadn't meant to call the boy stupid. But he had asked a stupid question…

Her hand flew to her stomach as it roared loudly and she curled up into fetal position to try and lessen the hunger pains. She needed Christmas to be done and over with so that the streets wouldn't be so crowded and she could go out and pickpocket some money to get food… the weeks following Thanksgiving had been difficult, the streets of Gotham overflowing with shoppers and people, and she had run out of any money she had managed to save up about a week ago…

"H-Hey…"

She sat up quickly, grabbing her knife and pointing it at the person. The boy gasped and backed away, and she sighed putting the knife down and looking at him. "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you," she mumbled.

He gulped and held out a McDonald's bag to her. Her eyes widened. "I-I got this for you… it's just some chicken nuggets and French fries and they threw in an apple pie cuz it's Christmas-"

The girl reached forward quickly and grabbed his hand pulling him closer to her and hugging him tightly, breaking down in tears. "T-Thank you…" she whimpered.

He blushed and looked at her as she took the bag and pulled him to sit down with her. She opened the bag a bit and started devouring the contents. He wanted to ask how long it had been since she'd eaten, but didn't know if that was okay to ask, so he cleared his throat. "W-What's your name?" he asked. She said something with her mouth full and he frowned. "W-What?"

She swallowed her food and sighed. "I'm Lilith. What's your name?" she asked.

"C-Christian," he said.

"Do you have a stutter?" she asked.

"What?"

"You stutter over your words a lot, I was wondering if you do that all the time," she clarified.

"N-No… kinda. Only around some people," he explained. "H-How long-"

"A week."

"What?"

"I haven't eaten in a week," she told him. He looked shocked. "It was just a can of sweet corn I took out of a can drive…"

"How did you know I was going to ask that?" he questioned.

"Chris!" they both heard someone yell. Lilith gasped and grabbed her McDonald's bag and her knife.

"T-That's my mom," Christian said, getting up. "I-I have to go-"

"You can't tell anybody about me, ok?" she insisted. "Please, promise me."

"I-I promise," he said.

"Thank you, for everything, Christian," she said, kissing her cheek quickly and running down the alleyway a bit, disappearing behind a wall.  
\---

Penny was just staring at him as he explained all of this to her. When he paused and just stared blankly at the wall, she cleared her throat and uncurled her knees slightly.

She took a moment to look at him. She had seen him, before all this. Back when Lilith had started living with her and her parents, he had come over a few times, just briefly, never staying long enough to even have a conversation. His hair had been longer back then, it almost always hung in his eyes, and he wore almost all black all the time, as he still did, and he had been kinder and… saner.

"She was like some mysterious… fallen angel," he continued, making her jump. "I brought her my lunch every day after I met her. Every single day. And I brought her blankets, and clothes… they were all mine but she didn't seem to mind. I was a little bigger back then but just barely. I had about as much fat on me as you do…" He said this while running his hand up her thigh gently. She gasped and moved away, and he quickly took his hand back. "But she was thinner then than I am now… I helped her make a little home for herself in the abandoned theater she stayed in, I brought her food, I made her comfortable. And I didn't ask for anything in return… I just liked to sit with her, and talk to her…"

"I-I'm sure she liked that too," Penny tried, hoping she could get on his good side.

"We had- and still have -so much in common. Even if we didn't know it then. The day she told me about her powers, the day she told me why she was living all alone… she did it to help me. She did it because she cares about people, she understands what they need more than I ever have…" he explained.  
\---  
-May 6th, 2004-

"What happened to your face?!" Lilith gasped, jumping off of the little mat she used as a bed and hurrying over to Christian as he entered the room. He hesitated and let her touch the cut on his cheek and the bruise on his eye that was swelling a bit and closing it up. "W-who did this to you?"

"J-Just some kids at school… he thought I was in his way…" he explained coldly, moving past her and falling onto her bed.

Lilith stared at him, watching him hang his head and move his hair to cover the black eye. "W-Were you in his way?" she asked. "How could they do this to you? On your birthday?"

Christian sighed. He was used to her saying things that he hadn't told her yet… she had done it all throughout the two and a half years he had known her. It was like she knew everything about him and nothing about her. "I wasn't in his way, I was at my locker… he's a senior, so-"

"A senior? Why is he in high school if he's that old?" she asked. He looked at her in surprise. Then he laughed a bit and shook his head.

"Not like a senior citizen. He's a senior in high school. That just means he's on his last year there and will graduate at the end of the school year," he explained.

"Oh…" she blushed, looking away for a minute. "So… he thinks he's superior to you?"

"Well, he kinda is-"

"He thinks he's cooler?"

"He… kinda is-"

"Why? What makes him cooler than you? He punches people in the face for no reason," she pointed out.

"I dunno… it's just how it works. I'm not a cool kid at school, Lil, people don't like me," he told her shortly, wanting to talk about something else already.

"Why not?" she questioned. "Why don't people like you-?"

"'cause I'm a freak, Lilith!" he snapped. She looked surprised. He sighed. "S-Sorry… it's just that-"

"You're not a freak," she told him softly. "Y-You're not, how can they think that?"

"I just am. I always have been. I was never into the same stuff as the other boys. They liked to play sports on the playground, and I would go off and find little animals and take them apart to see how they worked…" he explained. Lilith frowned and looked down. "And they were scared of me, but I would never hurt anyone Lilith, never… so they started making fun of me, and pulling my hair and beating me up after school…"

"But you don't do that anymore right? They shouldn't hurt you anymore…" she tried.

"Yeah, well… now my hair's too long, my face is pierced, and they saw some of my tattoos in the locker room, and they think I'm some kind of goth freak…" he said.

"But all of those things make you beautiful. They make you you," she smiled brightly. He looked at her, confused, and her smile fell. "That doesn't make you a freak…"

"Well according to them it does…" he tsked. "I mean, it's not like I have superpowers or some shit like that, I'm just boring old me, I can't do anything-"

"Do superpowers make someone a freak?" she asked. He frowned.

"No… I mean, look at Batman-"

"Fuck that guy," she sighed.

"I-I was gonna say everyone loves Batman," he said, surprised at her immediately shutting it down.

"Not everyone. He doesn't even have superpowers, Chris, he's just some guy dressed as a bat that takes things from people and throws people in the Asylum…" she growled.

"O-Okay yeah… didn't know you had such a thing against Batman," he mumbled.

"Superpowers do make you a freak, Chris, you don't want them," she snapped, laying back on her bed and facing away from him. He frowned and lay down with her, on his back.

"Do… you have superpowers?" he asked.

"They aren't that super…" she grumbled. He sat up quickly and looked at her.

"What can you do? Show me!" he said excitedly.

"N-No, Chris, forget it…" she mumbled. He frowned. "It's not cool…. I've hurt people."

"You won't hurt me-"

"I can't promise that!" she sighed. She turned to look at him. "I'm a freak, Christian, not you. That's why I'm up here, because I'm a danger-"

"Show me…" he insisted calmly. She stared at him for a minute, then sat up and stared at him.

"Do you wanna know how I knew all those things about you? Your age, your birthday, your parent's names?" she asked.

"Y-Yes, how did you-"

"You told me," she explained. He raised an eyebrow. "In your head. You told me everything… you're so calm and open…"

"So you… what, read minds?"

"I hear thoughts, yeah. It's… not always on purpose…" she sighed.

"T-That's so cool," he smiled brightly. "How do you do it?"

"I can manipulate the energy around me too… And I'm guessing, like, I read people's energy or something? I don't know, I haven't really thought about it…" she sighed.

"How can you manipulate energy?" he pressed. She looked at him and sighed.

"You promise me you won't tell anyone about this?" she asked.

"I promise, Lilith, I won't tell a soul," he said softly. Lilith stared at him and sighed. She held up her hand and carefully let the vines wrap around her arms, trying her hardest to control them. His mouth fell open and his eyes widened. She looked at him and whisked them away, shaking her head. "That's incredible…"

"It's dangerous…" she mumbled.

"Sure it is, but so are snakes and some people think they're beautiful," he pointed out.

"Are you comparing me to a snake?"

Christian hesitated. "W-Well, yes. But I like snakes, that's the point!" he explained.

"It's not something to like, Chris," she tried.

"It is!" he insisted. "It's beautiful!"

"So are you!" she sighed. "You're not a freak, you can't do that. You're just kind, and a good person..."

He didn't say anything for a minute, staring at the decaying theater full of old, torn apart seats, and tsked. "Yeah? Is that why I got punched in the face? Do you think just because I'm nice that's gonna make people like me?" he questioned shortly. He stood up and turned to look at her. "I don't care that you've hurt people with your powers, some people deserve to die."

"W-What are you talking about?" she asked, raising an eyebrow in concern.

"Some people. Deserve. To die. Did the people you've killed try to hurt you?" he asked.

"W-Well, my mom and dad did… but my aunt and cousin…" she stopped, choking up. She curled up and hugged her knees to her chest. He relaxed, looking a little surprised, and hurried to sit next to her and hug her.

"I-I'm sorry, I don't know where that came from, I just…" he tried, not knowing what to say. He shook his head and just held onto her, hesitating, then kissing her cheek. "I just don't want anyone to hurt you…"

"I can handle myself," she mumbled, looking at him nervously.

"I know you can…" he sighed, brushing her hair out of her eyes. She smiled a little and he started kissing at her neck a little. "I just want you to know. No one, or anything in this world with ever lay a hand on you… not if I have anything to say about it. They'll have to go through me first…"

Now it was Lilith's turn to be unsure of what to say. She just let him kiss her neck and her jaw, feeling strange, but safe with him so close to her…

"She told me that, you know?" he laughed. "I made her feel safe back then, she said that to me… I-I tried so hard to keep it that way…"

Penny watched him put his head in his hand and shake it. "So… you guys were fifteen, that's when she got picked up by the State and put in foster care."

"That was a whole year where I didn't see her!" he snapped, glaring at her. She gulped. "That was the year that I needed her the most, and she wasn't there!"  
\---  
-June 10th, 2005-

"Chris, I swear to God, if you talk back to me one more time-"

"Fuck, Mom, I didn't say anything!" he snapped, glaring at his mother. His mother's eyes widened. "Why do you do that?! Why am I always to blame when you fuck up?!"

"If you say that fucking word one more time…" she growled.

"What? What word Mom, the one you just said?! Fuck?!" he spat at her. Her face grew red and she brought her hand up to hit him. He winced and held up his hand to block it.

But the slap never came.

He frowned and looked down to see what happened, and saw that she was just standing there, still ready to slap him but she seemed to be… frozen. She looked just as surprised as he did, but only in her eyes. She visibly attempted to move and he heard her scream. He backed away quickly, feeling panicked. Suddenly she fell to the ground, gasping and sobbing.

"M-Mom," he whimpered, hurrying over to her. She slapped his hand away and he trembled.

"What… the hell did you do?" she growled.

"M-Me?! It wasn't me, I didn't do anything," he tried.

"You did! You hurt me!" she screamed, grabbing his hair and pulled him onto the ground, climbing on top of him and punching him in the face. "You could have killed me!"

"Mom!" he sobbed, holding up his hands and feeling the punches stop. He trembled, seeing her frozen again. He gasped and crawled backwards away from her. "M-Mom…?" She moved slightly and cried out, and he moved farther backwards, sobbing. "M-Mommy-" He looked down at his hands and got up quickly, running to the door and opening it, running away from the apartment and out of the building.

He ran to the theater and to where Lilith was. "Lilith?!" he whimpered, looking around and not seeing her. He went over to her bed and saw a little piece of ripped paper under her backpack. He picked it up and read it through his tears.

I heard something outside. Sounded like cops. If you're reading this, it means I'm not here. Duh. I'll be back though, I promise.  
\---

"But she didn't come back because they took her," he spat.

"What did you do about your powers?" Penny questioned. Stone turned his head slowly to look at her, tears running down his face.

"I waited in the theater. For two… fucking days… and she never came back…" he hissed. "And the police came in and they had guns pointed at me and I-I… my mom called the police. And they arrested me."  
\---

"Do you know why you're here?"

Christian looked up at the officer that had asked the questioned, his gaze dark. "Because I ran away from home?" he guessed.

"And you attacked your mother," the officer added.

"Do you see this?!" he snapped, bringing his cuffed hands to his face and pointing at the bruised, swollen eye and lip and bloody nose. "My mom did this! I never hurt her!"

"Well she says she did," he sighed. "We'll… handle her hitting you. But you need to tell me right now. Did you hurt her?"

Christian looked down and gulped. "I-I don't know I…" he started. "She went to hit me and I put my hands up and she just… froze… and then she started screaming and I-I don't know, it might have hurt her. It must have, but I didn't mean to, I-I would never-"

"How did you freeze her?" Christian frowned and looked up at him. "Can you show me?"

"I-I don't know how… it just happened, it's never happened before a-and I was scared…" he whimpered.

The officer nodded slowly. "Stay here for a moment… I need to make a call," he said.

Christian watched him get up and he tried to breath. "H-Have you seen my friend?" he asked. The man turned and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. "The girl that lived in the theater that I got arrested in, did you take her?"

"There… was a girl that got picked up from that area last night, but that isn't my division, so I'm not at liberty to say any more," he explained, walking out towards his desk.

"I wanna see her, where is she?" he pressed. The officer ignored him, picking up the phone and dialing the number. "WHERE IS SHE?!" One of the other officers walked over to the door and closed it. "WHERE IS SHE, YOU FUCKING TELL ME-!" The other officer ducked out of the way as his hands nearly hit him. Christian hesitated. "I-I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"Give this kid something to calm him down, he's out of control," the officer snapped.

"Wait, please, I won't hurt anybody, I'd never-" he tried. He gasped as he felt something sharp stuck into his neck and something injected into him. "I-I won't hurt…" He trailed off as he started losing consciousness.  
\---

"The police can't do that…" Penny mumbled.

Christian scoffed. "The police do a lot of shit they aren't allowed to do. My first two assault charges weren't even real assaults. My powers came out without warning and my mom's a bitch, and an officer felt 'threatened'," he spat. "When I woke up I was in some weird lab place… strapped to a chair…."  
\---

"Can you hear me?" a man's voice asked. Christian's eyes opened a bit but he was still slipping in and out of consciousness. "Christian, can you hear me?"

"W-Where am I? How do you know my name…?" he questioned weakly.

"We're going to see what's making you hurt people, Christian, if your powers are dangerous. It's not going to be pleasant. It's going to hurt-"

"Wait, how did I get here? I don't have powers, I want to go home! Where's my mom?!" he asked, starting to panic.

"Your mother thought this would be the best place for you to go, since we don't know what you are yet, and you seem to be unstable" the man explained. Christian pulled against the restraints on his wrists and ankles and head, and he felt like he couldn't breath.

"You have to let me go! This is illegal! This is kidnapping!" he screamed, his voice cracking.

"We're going to start the treatment now. You need to calm down," he told him, going behind a desk and pressing a few buttons.

"Treatment?!" he questioned. Before he could say anything else, he felt the excruciating pain of an electric shock shoot through his body, and he tensed up and screamed. Once it stopped, he gasped for air and sobbed. "S-Stop, please stop-" The shocks ran through him again and he cried out, moving his head back as far as possible and slumping forward when they stopped.

They did this over and over again, not caring that it hurt, not caring that it didn't make any sense, not caring that he didn't want to hurt them, even if they were hurting him…

And the next day they held him underwater until his lungs burned like acid and he passed out. And the day after that they injected him with all kinds of different things, not telling them what any of them were but watching him as he vomited or seized or writhed in pain. And they continued torturing him like this every day for a year, trying to pull out the powers that he didn't even understand or know how to use.

His eyes opened to the usual complete white light of his room. He could hear the other patients in the building, laughing or screaming or both. There were only a handful of others that went through the same 'treatment program' as him, two of them arriving shortly after him, and they were all terrified, trembling messes of anxiety and submission. He didn't understand how the horrific experiments this place was performing on them didn't make them want to kill everyone in the place, but he kept his mouth shut. He had learned after a while that that was the sure-fire way to end treatment for the day early and with little fuss.

The door opened and he sat up from his cot slowly, staring at the floor. "Are you ready for treatment, Christian?" a woman asked calmly. He just stared at the floor and didn't speak. She took his arm and started leading him out of the room, towards her office. Right, today was therapy day…

"Sit down," she said. Her name was Dr. Quinzel, he recalled staring at her with a sigh. She had been nicer than the rest of them, she had gotten them to lessen the severity of the treatments. He wasn't a criminal like some of them, not really. But the other staff members treated him as such. He sat down on the couch and continued to stare at the floor. "Do you remember where you are today, Chris?"

"Arkham Asylum…" he mumbled, playing with the hem of his shirt and swaying a bit.

"Good… have the treatments been better?" she questioned. He didn't say anything so she sighed and looked at her notebook. "Have you seen Lilith again lately?"

He put his hands on his head and growled. "No. No no, no! She's real! Lilith is real, I'm not crazy! I didn't see her here. I'm not crazy…." he snapped, pulling at his hair.

"No one said you were," she told him.

"You think I'm stupid, Doctor?" he hissed. "I'm in an insane asylum! They're doing experiments to get the crazy out of me, but it's not taking it out, it's driving me insane! P-Please, you have to make them stop, make them stop…"

Dr. Quinzel stared at him and watched his body curl up and his thin, white fingers pull on his black hair in a way that must be painful. She touched his hand gently and he slapped it away, holding his hand out and watching her body freeze. His eyes widened and he pulled his hand back, watching her gasp and move quickly to stand. "T-That was… your powers, you just-"

"No no no," he moaned, grabbing his hair again and sobbing. "No, it's not real, I'm not a freak, I'm just me…"

"Christian, it's alright, you did it," she smiled nervously, touching his arm and sitting back down. "All you have to do is show them what you just did and they'll let you go."

He trembled and looked up at her. She frowned, seeing the unsettled look in his grey eyes. "No… Doctor Quinzel, if they ever see that they'll never let me go…" he breathed. She frowned. "You have to lie. You have to fill out in my files that I'm done with treatment, that they were wrong and I'm just normal. Like you… I-I don't wanna hurt anyone."

"I know, Chris," she sighed.

"All I wanna do is go home and go to school and be myself again…" he tried. She stared at him. "Please… please…"

"I'll see what I can do, Christian…" she agreed. He nodded and looked at the ground again. "Did you know that your last name means stone in Russian?"

"What?" he questioned.

"Kamen. It means stone in Russian. I just thought that was interesting," she said. He realized that she was trying to keep him from getting his hopes up.

He chuckled. "Maybe that can be my supervillain name. Stone… because I freeze people, I turn them to stone…"

"Supervillain?" she asked.

"I said superhero," he corrected. "Or I could be, like, Stone Cold, since I'm so cold all the time…" The Doctor nodded a bit and started writing something in her notebook. "Can I ask you something, Doctor?" The doctor looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. "What did my mother say to get me in here? What did she tell you that would put me in an insane asylum?"

Doctor Quinzel hesitated, and looked towards the door, then back at him. "She said that you… didn't understand other people. That you didn't get along with others and that you tore apart small animals and you tried to kill people-"

"That's not true! I would never kill anyone…" he insisted. She sighed.

"I know that. And I'll make sure that they know that too…" she told him.

"Where's my mother now?" he asked softly.

"She's in the same apartment as before. We've had to keep in contact with her, since you're underaged," she explained.

"And she never wanted to talk to me…" he mumbled. "She would be okay if I spent the rest of my life in here, as long as she didn't have to deal with me…"

"Well, she'll just have to deal with you, won't she?" the doctor pointed out. Christian glanced up at her and smirked a bit. "Well, that's enough for today, Chris. I have some paper work to do, so I'll see you tomorrow."

"Double therapy?" he chuckled.

"I don't think you'll be needing your treatment anymore, so I'll start working with you in therapy," she smiled.

His face brightened up. "Thank you…" he whispered.

It only took a few days for Doctor Quinzel to get him released from the asylum. And the day after they were done processing the paperwork, he was signing a few papers and being escorted out of the building. Quinzel was waiting for him by the door and held a bag out to him with the few personal belongings he had had when he came.

"I believe in you, Chris. You're going to be just fine," she told him, taking his hand comfortingly and smiling. He thanked her and a guard came over to tell her that they were moving a high security patient in and needed to get all the staff on hand as possible. They said their goodbyes and he was lead out the front door, watching as a heavily guarded man with a straightjacket and fluorescent green hair was brought up the stairs past him.  
\---

"How did you find Lilith?"

"What do you mean how did I find Lilith? She was still in the same city, all I had to do was look in all the places I knew she liked to be," Christian explained. "It took me less than a week to find her again."  
\---

"Christian!"

He turned quickly when he heard her, barely having time to brace himself for the impact of her hug. "Lilith," he breathed, holding her tightly to him. "Where did you go?"

"The state found me, they put me in foster care. I'm living with a family now. What about you, I came looking for you as soon as I could," she told him.

Christian sighed and looked at her, then around the decaying building that he had found her in. "I'm not going to let anyone take you from me again," he whispered, kissing her neck gently. She shivered and held onto him. "I'm going to find us a place where no one came hurt us anymore…."

"You were in Arkham?" she questioned, having heard it in his mind. She moved back to look at him. She stared into his eyes and frowned at the paranoia in them that she had never seen before, putting her hand on his cheek. "Christian…?"

"I have powers too now," he said. She frowned.

"Show me," she insisted.

"I can't, I don't want to hurt you-"

"You won't," she breathed. He stared at her, then looked away. "You won't. Show me…"

He gulped and stared at her for a minute, then held up his hand and froze her. She gasped and held still, unsure of what exactly he was doing, then stumbled back when he let her go. "Are you ok?" he asked quickly, touching her arm. She looked surprised. "Lilith-"

"That's amazing," she breathed, looking up at him and hugging him again. He held onto her, watching her as she moved back. "But you can't tell anyone. Number one rule of powers is don't go telling people willy nilly…"

"I know that, I'm not stupid," he chuckled. "I'm going to get stronger so that I can protect you. And I'm gonna get money, so that you can have everything you've ever wanted…"

She smiled a bit and looked up at him. "I… I have a friend who might be able to help. He has connections," she said, taking his hand and leading him outside. The summer air was warm, with a slight cool breeze coming off the salty water of the Delaware Bay. The full moon lit up the main streets, but didn't reach the dirty alley streets that Lilith pulled him through. The streets were like mazes, and yet she walked through them like someone who must have walked through them a hundred times.

"Who is this friend?" Christian questioned as they stopped at a corner. Lilith was looking around to make sure no one was in the street she was about to take him down.

"We're close," was all she said. "See that door over there? Someone is gonna come through in about fifteen seconds and when he does, you need to stay quiet and let me handle it, okay?"

"Yeah okay, but who is he?" he pressed.

"He's not a friend, just someone who I used to do business with," she told him. The door opened just as she said and she put a finger to her lips.

"I know you're out here, you better quit hidin' 're this is gonna be messy," a man called. She came around the corner with her hands raised and Christian hesitated, seeing the gun in the man's hand. "What are you doin' here, little girl? This ain't no place for a pretty thing like you to be wanderin' around at night all by your lonesome."

"I have a friend with me," she told him.

"Oh yeah? Tell him to come out too," he ordered. Lilith looked over at Christian and nodded. Christian slowly came around the corner, raising his hands as well. "You kids tryin'a cause some kinda trouble 'r something? I'd scram if I were you."

"I have cards for a game of Euchre, and an ace of spades in my hand," she said. The man raised an eyebrow and lowered his gun. Lilith put her hands down and Christian followed, frowning.

"That's an old code. The boss ain't here," the man told her.

"I just told you, I have an ace of spades, I'm here for the snowman."

"Snowman-?"

The man turned as the door opened again and a tall, dark-haired man looked out. "You've been gone for a while, I was starting to think the feds got you," he said.

"Technically they did. But for different reasons," she chuckled. "I wanna ask a favor of you, can we talk?"

"Sure. But I can't make any promises, the boss got nabbed again…" he sighed, opening the door to let them in. Lilith walked in, holding Christian's hand to keep him behind her, and the other man followed them, but stayed in front of the door to guard it. The dark-haired man led the two teenagers down a few hallways and into a separate room, and closed the door behind them. "Who's your friend?"

"This is Christian," she explained. "He's the one that needs you, I'm helping him out."

"Got it. I'm Frost. Jonny Frost," he told him, holding out his hand. Christian hesitantly took it and shook his hand, looking at Lilith in confusion. "Your little friend here's been doing business with us for a long time. Always good to have eyes around the city, and she was small enough as a kid to get places most of us couldn't."

"Sorry I disappeared. They put me in foster care," she sighed. Frost tsked and looked at Christian. "We need a starting point you know? People. Money if it's available. I'll get it all back to you, I just need to get stuff moving."

He chuckled. "What, are you starting a gang?" he joked.

"We just need a safe zone. We may be kids but we're far from able to make a place for ourselves in society. As soon as we turn eighteen, we're gonna need something to keep us going," she said. He nodded slowly.

"In any other situation I would kick you out right now for making such a vague request. But since I know you'll pay me back, I can get you what you need," he told her. "I'll give you twenty guys, $60,000, and a place to hide out, how's that?"

"Sounds good. I really appreciate it. Say, what's selling the best right now?" she asked.

"Cocaine. Guns, girls," he told her. "The usual. But cokes been in high demand lately. Want me to hook you up with a dealer. For business reasons."

Lilith chuckled. "If you wouldn't mind," she agreed.

"You got it." He went behind the desk in the room and unlocked one of the drawers with a key. "I can give you a location right now. And I'll have the cash and the men waiting there. Can your friend handle it? He looks a little nervous."

"Sure he can," she smiled. "And besides, I'll be there to help him."  
\---

"Why are you telling me all of this?" Penny questioned nervously.

Christian didn't say anything for a minute. Then he stood up and walked over to a small table in the corner of the room, picking up a phone and starting to type something. "If it wasn't for Lilith, I wouldn't be where I am today. She got me what I needed to get my start, she helped me figure out what to do, how to run things… She was there when I killed my Mom, and god did it scare her, but she stayed. And I was there when she had to kill again. And I was there to tell her it was okay. Because it is okay, it's okay to kill to survive…" Penny shook her head nervously and Christian chuckled. "You've never had to do it, you wouldn't know. And from the comfort of your home she helped me put together the third most successful criminal web in Gotham City."

Penny looked down. "S-She never knew any other way, she didn't-" she started.

"Stop validating it! People died, people got hurt! That's not okay!" he laughed. "It's not okay to kill people, it's not okay to do what she did, what I did. We were fucking sixteen , seventeen, eighteen years old, no one should have to do what we did at our age- or any age!" He turned around and put his forehead against the wall and stared down at the phone. "All of this is because of her…"

"You took it this far, not her," Penny pointed out coldly.

He looked up at her and chuckled. "Don't get gutsy on me," he taunted, walking over and crouching down in front of her. "I had other girlfriends. Me and Lilith didn't hook up right away. I was afraid that she didn't want me, she always seemed so busy with other things. And as my web grew and I started doing it on my own, I got more power and with more power, I got greedy, and I started getting with other girls and doing what I wanted. I lost touch with her for a while… I got her hooked on coke to get her back, and took her with me, cause this is where she belongs, with me." Penny glared at him. "Not in the real world. Not with Digger. With me."

"If you think that, then you're still greedy," Penny hissed. Christian laughed a bit and glanced down at the phone.

"Maybe, Penny. Maybe," he admitted. "She's coming. She says not to hurt you, do you think I should listen? I don't want her thinking she has a say in any of this. Not anymore…" Christian rolled his head back for a minute. "Not anymore."

He stood up just as someone knocked on the door, and he opened it. The man glanced in and told him that fifteen minutes was up. "That it is," Christian mumbled, opening the door wider and going over to the table again, grabbing a knife to put in his sheath.

"I thought you were gonna have some fun with her," the man chuckled, leaning against the doorway.

Christian started over to the door. "I changed my mind," he told him. He hesitated and looked down at Penny for a moment, then back at the man. "Put the gag back on her. And bring her with us. We're gonna move her somewhere easier to find." The man nodded and Christian moved past him. "Nice talking to you Penny, next time it won't be so friendly." Penny watched him walk away without looking back as the man pulled the gag around her and stood her up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Thanks for reading! Let me know what you think of this chapter, and chapter 7 will up as soon as I can get it up!


	7. Sleep

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Hey guys! Sorry this one took me so long, was sick ALL last week :( but I'm better now! This is the last chapter, but there will be an epilogue, so there will technically be one more chapter. Then I'm going to 'rewrite' the Black Rose fic to fit the Extended-cut of Suicide Squad, then I will start posting the sequel! Anyways, I hope you guys enjoy this chapter!

'I have her, do you want her back?'

Lilith stared at the text for a long time before she sat up in bed. It was Sunday. Penny wasn't home because she would have gone to church.

'Where is she?' she texted. 'Don't hurt her'

'363 Victoria Road, Gladesville. You'd better come alone and it had better be you that comes.'

She felt a wave of nausea hit her and she got up quickly, getting dressed as fast as she could. She didn't care in the least what she looked like, just grabbing ripped jeans and a tshirt and hurrying to pull on and tie up her boots.

She rushed out of the apartment, almost positive that she didn't even lock the door, and took the elevator out of the building. As she started walking down the sidewalk, trying to hail a taxi, she realized that she would need to come alone, that no one could know the location, she went to a side street and made her way through until she found a few parked cars on a quiet street. She looked around and picked one to try to break into. She looked around and walked around to the driver's side, holding her hands against the window and shooting her vines through it. She sighed with relief when no alarm went off, and shook the vines off her hands before reaching into the car and unlocking the door. After brushing the glass off of the seat, she sat down and started to hotwire the car. When the engine started, she rolled the window down so that it didn't look obviously broken, and she started off towards her destination.  
\---

The building was an abandoned asylum. Of course it was…

Lilith got out of the car and started walking towards the building slowly. There didn't seem to be anyone guarding the place, so she easily snuck through the fence and into the slightly decaying building.

The inside was much more worse for wear. The walls were falling apart, graffiti stained every available surface. Water pooled on the floor under caved in parts of the roof and left the nauseating smell of mold in the air. But nobody seemed to be around.

"Penny?" she hissed, staying close the the wall as she moved quietly down the hall. She winced as the stepped on some broken glass and it crunched under her feet. She paused for a minute and listened. When she didn't hear anything, she released the breath she didn't realize she had been holding. "Penny?"

She heard a muffled noise and she started towards an open doorway, starting to hear her friends thoughts. She looked into the room carefully and saw Penny sitting in the center of the room, alone in the dark and tied up. She sighed and went in despite her better judgement, kneeling down and pulling the gag away from her friend's mouth. "Lilith-" Penny immediately whimpered.

"Are you ok? I'm gonna get you out of here," Lilith told her, starting to untie her. "Where are your parents?"

"Lilith…" Penny tried again. Lilith heard her saying to turn around just as she felt the hand on her shoulder. She stopped moving, staying completely still and staring at Penny.

"How stupid are you?" Stone chuckled. "Did you think I wouldn't hear you?" She looked down and swore, taking a few deep breaths. "You should probably come with me, yeah? Let's try to make this easy on everyone."

He let go of her shoulder and moved around her, walking slowly over to Penny and pulling her to stand up with his one good arm. She could see that the other one was bandaged, and tried to think of how she might be able to overpower him. But in the meantime, she stood up as well, and followed him as he brought Penny out of the room and deeper into the asylum.

"Where are my mom and dad?" Penny spoke up, her voice wavering.

"Where do you think we're going?" he chuckled. "I told you what's going to happen, and it's happening now." He stopped in front of a door and kicked it open, pushing Penny inside. She gasped and stumbled a bit, and Lilith hurried after her to catch her. Stone shut the door behind himself and walked around them, further into the room.

"Mom, Dad!" Penny sobbed. Lilith looked over and saw Penny's parents tied up and gagged, similarly to the way Penny had been. but Stone had placed them on their knees in the center of the room. Penny started whimpering and breathing heavily, gasping for air and Stone looked over and shushed her.

"She has every right to be panicking, this looks like a fucking execution!" she snapped.

"That's exactly what it is," he smiled happily. She shook her head.

"W-What… are we going… to do?" Penny sobbed. Lilith was almost as panicked as Penny, if she was being honest with herself. But she knew she needed to be calm and collected, or Penny would lose hope. And she couldn't let her do that…

"Let them go, Christian, they don't have anything to do with this," she tried.

"That seems to be the hopeful excuse," he sighed. "No they don't. And neither does she. But you. You have everything to do with this."

"Yeah. So let all of them go and we'll deal with this just one on one," she said calmly. He stared at her for a minute, then blinked.

"No. I'll tell you what, though. If you kill Mom and Dad, I'll let little Penelope go?" he told her.

"No!" Penny gasped. "You can't! Lilith, you can't!"

"I won't," she mumbled. She stood up carefully and started walking towards him. "Chris, that's ridiculous, no one has to die. Killing them would be a pointless death."

"To end a pointless life," he pointed out. "But does any death really have meaning? Don't I just kill to kill?" Lilith stared at him. "Don't you?"

"I don't kill," she growled. "I don't want to hurt people."

"Well neither do I but it's too late to turn around," he smirked. He reached forward and pulled her knife out of her jacket. "So? Are you going to let Penny live, or not?" She glared at him and he chuckled, taking the knife. "Of course, Penny could do it…" Lilith looked shocked, then looked over at Penny who looked absolutely horrified. She looked over at Penny's parents, and crossed her arms. "Come on, make a decision…." Penny's mother tried to say something through her gag, and Stone walked towards her, pulling it off. "What can I do for you Sofia?"

"Please, don't make our daughter go through this. You can do whatever you want to do with us, but please, you can't hurt her," she said.

"Fair enough," he chuckled. He pulled the gag off of Penny's father. "What about you, sir, do you wanna add to what your wife said?"

Her father looked at Penny, then at his wife, then at Stone. "I don't know what this is about… I don't know what Lilith's done to make you so angry, but please just… if you kill us, will you promise me you'll let my daughters go?" Lilith winced, not wanting to think of them as her parents… it just made things harder…

"I'm not killing anyone, but yeah, if Penny or Rosie kill you, I'll let 'em go," he agreed.

"Don't make them-" her mother started.

"Come on it will be a learning experience," he laughed.

"I won't kill them! Please, just let them go!" Penny snapped. Stone sighed and looked at Lilith, who had been staring at the ground in front of her, weighing the options.

"W-What happens if neither of us kill them?" she questioned.

"I'll keep you both here, and kill them anyway. If Penny kills them, she can leave and you stay. If you do it, both if you stay," he told her. Lilith shook her head in disgust and looked up at him.

"We'll 'stay'? You mean you'll keep us like you kept all those girls," she guessed.

"No. I'm going to keep you very differently, my love," he smirked.

Her eyes darkened and she glared at him. "You will not keep me…" she growled. He laughed a bit and walked over to her, putting their foreheads together. She gasped but it was too late by the time she realized what he was doing.

"Let's make this a challenge, then. Let's see if you can figure out what's real," he whispered, before kissing her head. She moved back a bit, everything around her appearing to be warped, and fading in and out, from black and white, to color. She couldn't tell what was real and what was imaginary, as every flashing image in her head went from her holding the knife, to her dropping it, to her stabbing Penny's father to her moving backwards. She dropped the knife, she looked at Stone, she summoned her vines, she walked over to Stone, she wrapped them around Penny's father, she kissed Stone.

It went back and forth like this for what seemed like forever, and to the point where she either ripped Penny's parents apart, or left with Stone, and all the while all she heard was the ringing of her ears, the beating of her heart, the echoing sound of herself gasping for breath. She couldn't break out of it. She just kept seeing both, back and forth, back and forth.

She couldn't have killed them, or she would be covered in blood, she realized. But she seemed to be in the same room. Stone might have made two different imaginations. He was trying to trick her, maybe even distract her while he did something terrible. She had to keep Penny safe.

She gasped as she heard a popping sound in her ears, and the color returned to the world. But the only color was red, everything was red. She blinked a few times as she heard screaming and sobbing and laughing and she stumbled back, realizing that Penny's parents were on the floor in front of her, mangled and torn apart and the floor was covered in their blood. And her clothes were covered in their blood. And the vines on her hands were covered in their blood. She shook her head, then violently shook her hands to get the vines off, realizing that the screaming and sobbing was coming from Penny as she stared in horror at her dead parents, and Stone was laughing at the agony he had put them both through.

"N-No," she breathed, feeling her legs tremble and give out under her. She fell to her knees and hugged herself, feeling tears fall down her face.

"Can you tell if this is real?" Stone cackled. "Maybe it's all a dream, Rosie, maybe all of this isn't real!"

"No, no, I didn't-" she choked and sobbed. "I-I didn't mean to, change it back! Change it back!"

"Shhhh," he hushed her, walking over and using his good hand to massage her shoulder. "You did so well, you did it so beautifully." He looked up at some of his men as they came into the room and grabbed onto Penny. "Just take her down to the lab room, sedate her so she shuts up."

"No!" Lilith cried, standing up and grabbing the knife off of the floor, turning and holding it to his throat. Stone's men pointed their guns at her but Stone put his hand up to stop them. "You promised to let her go, you promised!"

"Oh Rosie… I said if Penny killed them then I'd let her go… but you were the one who did it," he grinned.

"W-Why are you doing this?" she sobbed.

"You got me arrested, I lost my freedom!" he snapped. "You sent me back to that horrible asylum, and they tortured me, and the good nurse wasn't even there to help me! And I lost a hand, because of your stupid boyfriend! So now, you're losing your friend! And your freedom…" Lilith whimpered and dropped the knife, gasping as she sobbed and screamed that she hated him. He sneered and brought his hand back, smacking her so hard across the face that she fell to the ground at his feet, and found herself face to face with Penny's mother. She opened her mouth but found that she couldn't move.

He hadn't even frozen her, she was just petrified.

Stone stared at her for a moment, then grabbed her and dragged her over to the wall. "I never wanted to hurt you, you know…" he mumbled. "I just wanted to keep you safe…" He started walking after his men as they dragged Penny away. And all Lilith could do was watch.  
\---

"Fuuuck," Digger groaned, grabbing the TV remote sitting next to him and shutting the static-covered screen off. He had forgotten just how boring being alone was…

He didn't like the way that Lilith had thrown him out, it made it so that he was the one that had to call, and that made him feel desperate, and he didn't like that feeling. But being with a silly woman like Lilith sure beat the boredom of being all alone in a rundown little trailer park on the outskirts of Sydney. The closest woman to him was a bit of a rag, and he didn't want to pick up anything undesirable. And besides, he really did like Lilith a lot, even with all the emotional and dramatic baggage she carried along with her everywhere she went. She was fun to be around, she had a similar mindset to him, she had a nice rack….

Fuck it if he seemed desperate, she had left him at a time where she needed a him the most, he was giving her a call to see if anything had happened since he left a week ago.

He stood up, grabbing his phone off of the pile of old bottles and empty cigarette packets and torn up papers that covered his little kitchen counter, and dialed her number.

"Your call has been forwarded to the automatic voice-messaging system," was the immediate response. He tsked and hung up the call, slipping his phone into the pocket of his sweats. He looked around the trailer and kicked a few bottles against the toe-kick of the bare cabinets to clean up. He went over to the bedroom area and glanced in, turning on the dull light and shoving some dirty clothes off of the bed to lay himself down. He tried closing his eyes for a minute, but every time it felt like he might drift off to sleep, he was awoken by the lingering ache in his chest, like someone was pushing down on it.

He finally sat up and grabbed his pack of cigarettes and his lighter off of the nightstand, hoping maybe it would help. He grabbed his jacket and pulled it on, going out the front door and sitting on the steps. He pulled one of the cigarettes out and put it between his lips, lighting it, and put the pack in his pocket, pulling out his phone again and looking at the time. 8PM. Lilith usually took a shower around 7:30, so she would be out by now... He sighed and unlocked his phone, calling her number again.

"Your call has been forwarded-"

"For fuck's sake!" he snapped, hanging up the phone and standing up. Her phone wasn't even on, which meant she was either moping about in bed again or something bad had happened. He went into the trailer, cigarette still between his lips, and started taking off his jacket to grab a tank top. Once that was on, he pulled the jacket back on and sat down on the couch to get his boots on. He got up once they were tied, and went to the door, grabbing his coat and pulling it on over the jacket.

He didn't have a car, he usually just rode his bike places, but if Lilith needed to be picked up from somewhere, then he was guessing his bike might not be big enough… He swore and locked the trailer door once he was out, and went to the trailer next door, knocking.

The older woman opened the door and smiled brightly. "Hello, Georgey!" she greeted him. He smiled wryly. "Ya came ta visit me, I missed ya!"

"Hi Mrs. Brown," he sighed, scratching the back of his head. "Could I borrow the mistah's truck?"

"Sure! He went out fer the weekend with some of his old mates," the woman agreed happily. She took his hand and pulled him into her trailer. "Come on in, I'll getcha'a drink!"

"N-No, I'm in a bit of'a hurry tonight," he told her. "I'll come hang with ya when I get back, alright?"

"What are ya up ta tonight?" she asked, taking the keys to the truck off of the counter and holding them out to him.

He took them. "Thanks," he said. "I gotta go help outta friend. She's not answerin' me calls and I think she might need me ta come help'er out."

"Ooooh, Georgey, have ya found yahself a girl?" she questioned excitedly.

"Ehhh, yeah," he agreed. "Say, thanks fer the truck, I'll bring it back by tomorrow!"

"No rush, deary!" she told him happily, watching him leave quickly.

Digger hurried out to the truck and got in, starting it up and starting towards the city.  
\---

No one answered the door when he knocked, but he waited a minute, not wanting to be paranoid. They'd be along in a minute… he knocked again just in case. Again, no one answered, so he tried the door handle on a hunch. Finding it unlocked, his stomach dropped. He opened the door.

"Oi, Lilith? Penny?" he called. "Ya here?"

No answer.

He let himself into the apartment and walked around, seeing that no one was home.

"Oh fuck…" he mumbled to himself. He decided to try her cell phone one more time.

"Your call has been forwarded to the automatic voice-messaging system. 'Lilith Fey' is not available. At the tone, please record your message. When you have finished recording, you may hang up, or press one for more options."

The phone made a beeping noise and he sighed. "Yah killin' me girl. I'm comin' ta get ya, so just hang in there," he said before hanging up the used an app to track her phone, seeing that it was in Gladesville. Alright, that wasn't far. It was in an abandoned…

Mental asylum?

"Fuck…" he mumbled, quickly leaving the apartment and going back down to his truck.  
\---

Digger looked up at the building and sighed. Now that it was night, it was completely pitch black, and the building looked like the kind of place where tortured souls would linger, and he really didn't want to go in there. Not because he was scared. Of course not.

He looked down at the phone and zoomed into the location of Lilith's phone, then entered the building, careful not to step on any glass of broken concrete that was no doubt covering the floor. By the time he reached the room where Lilith apparently was, he couldn't see a thin in from of him, so he turned the flashlight on his phone on.

"Oh, Jesus!" he gasped, moving back when he saw what was in front of him. Two dead bodies, torn apart and pale, lay on the floor. He had a horrible feeling that they were Penny's parents…

He moved the light over a bit, towards the wall, and saw a small form curled up in the corner. He moved back a bit, then looked down at the app at his phone, seeing that the little form in the corner had Lilith's phone. He gulped and moved forward slowly. "L-Lilith?" he questioned. She didn't say anything. He moved closer to her, crouching down next to her and moving her hair out of her face. She was covered in blood, and her eyes were wide open, but she wasn't moving at all. It barely sounded like she was breathing…

"This is somethin' out of a horror movie… I swear, girly, if someone comes up behind me, ya better snap out of it and tell me," he mumbled, using his tank top to try and wipe the blood off of her face. It was dried, and he realized that she had been curled up like this for a while. And the bodies next to her had been there for just as long, he guessed. He looked at her and waved his hand in front of her face. Her eyes just stared straight ahead, and he followed her gaze, seeing that she wasn't even looking at anything. "Sweetheart, come on, move, say somethin', anythin'." Still nothing. He sighed and sat against the wall next to her, pulling her into his lap and holding her, kissing her head and rocking her gently.

After what felt like an eternity, he heard a soft sob, and looked down to see that Lilith's eyes were shut tightly now, and her lip was trembling. Her hands gripped at his arms, and she sobbed again, moving to hug him. He sighed with relief and hushed her. "It's alright, I've gotcha, y'alright…" he told her.

"They're dead," she whimpered.

"I know," he said gently. She turned her head to look at the corpses, but he quickly, tilted her chin so that she was looking back at him. "It's not ya fault, ya couldn't do anythin'-"

"No. I did it. I killed them," she hissed. He looked surprised. "T-They're dead…"

She buried her head in his chest and sobbed, and he looked at the bodies, shaking his head. "Well… you didn't want to. You had no choice…" he tried.

"I didn't mean to," she whined.

"Of course you didn't…"

"Where's Penny?" she gasped, looking up at him. "Did you find her?"

"No, I found ya 'n that's as far as I got," he told her.

"S-Stone has her… he took her, he said he was going to keep her…" she whispered, holding onto him again. "H-He said he was going to k-keep both of us, he'll come for me-"

"I won't let 'im take ya," he told her. He lifted her up and stood up, placing her carefully on her feet. "Y'alright? 'Re ya hurt at all?"

"No. We have to find Penny," she insisted.

"We'll find her, baby, we won't leave here without 'er," he promised, following her as she hurried out the door.  
\---

Digger snuck up behind one of the men guarding the hallway and hit him in the head with his weapon. The man grunted and fell to the floor, blood pouring out of his wound. A few other guards in the hall questioned what the noise was and Digger glanced around the corner, throwing his boomerang so that it would hit each one of them. It did as he wanted, hitting one, two, three, all four guard in the hall and flying back to him. He caught it in his gloved hand, and glanced behind him, seeing Lilith coming from another hallway with her vines wrapped around her hands and arms, blood and what he could only assume were pieces of flesh stuck to the thorns.

"Ya gotta go back, love. Or wait here, at least," he told her.

"Why don't you think I can do this?" she asked.

"I know ya can do it, I just… ya look crazy, ya look like a murderer, do ya really want Penny ta-" he started.

"Penny watched me murder her parents. I am a murderer," Lilith said quietly. He sighed and looked down the hall. "I'm getting Penny."

He shook his head. "Fine," he agreed reluctantly. She nodded shortly and they went down the hallway, then another, then another. The asylum was like a maze, every corner dark and decaying, and each sound echoing across the walls. "Wait." He held up his hand and she stopped, listening as she heard screaming coming from somewhere in the building.

"Penny," she breathed, going in front of him and hurrying towards the screams of her friend.

"Dammit- Lilith!" he hissed, hurrying after her.

Lilith started listening to Penny's thoughts, trying to pinpoint her location. Stone had her frozen in place, making her thoughts virtually unreadable, but she could still feel her. She felt a hand grab her and pull her back before she walked in front of an open doorway. She turned to yell at Digger, but he put a finger to his lips, nodding into the room. She realized that the screaming was coming from this room, and her breathing became more rapid, and her brain started racing. How were they going to get Penny out of this? She started to look into the room, but Digger stopped her again, pulling out his boomerang quietly as he started thinking at her.

'Alright, Lilith, I need you to get behind me, and I'll take out-'

"I know you're out there. Why don't you come on in?" Lilith looked at the door as Christian spoke, then looked back at Digger, who shook his head. "Come on, Rosie, come see what I'm doing to your friend. You're not even going to recognize her-"

Lilith growled and went into the room, missing Digger's grasp and hearing him swear. She didn't care in the least, as she saw Penny covered in blood that she prayed belonged to someone else, frozen in the middle of the room. Stone smirked when Lilith came in, and leaned forward to lick her friend's ear. Lilith started to move forward, and felt two of Stone's men try to grab at her. She brought one of her vined hands to the back of one of their heads, and he fell to the ground, then she removed the vines from one of her hands and grabbed the other man by the neck, shoving him back against the wall and slapping her other hand against his face, giving him a face full of thorns that he screamed around for a moment She felt dizzy, pushing her hand against his face until his skull collapsed into itself and the screaming stopped. She let go of him and shook the vines away, staring at the man as he fell to the ground. She heard Stone walk up behind her, and she pulled out her knife but she didn't turn to look at him, still staring at the dead man. "Look at what you did, Rosie… he was a good man-"

"Good men are weak, why would you want him around?" she scoffed.

"Oh, I need people who know how the world works by my side to help me make the smartest decisions," he explained. "But you? You're bad. You're so bad, Rosie, but you're smart, and that's why I love having you." She felt him back her against the wall and grab her hips. She noticed him swaying a bit, and saw the way his grey eyes were dancing. So this was a game. They were playing. This was fun to him.

She felt him bring one of his hands to her chin and he tilted her face up to kiss him, but stopped himself, letting his lips brush against hers gently. "What, you can't hurt me?" he breathed, watching her shaking hand turning the knife in circles before putting it away.

"You can't touch her," Lilith told him, her voice shaking.

Stone moved back a bit. "Why can't I? She belongs to me now," he said coolly. Lilith glared at him. "Of course, she'll never compare to you, I can let her go if you just come with me. If you come with me, I'll let them both go." He looked towards the door, and she looked at the door, seeing Digger with a gun to his head in the doorway. She closed her eyes and looked down, shaking her head. "Come on, Rosie, I don't want to play games with you anymore, baby. Let's go home. And they can leave, I don't need them."

When she didn't respond, he sighed and looked at Digger. "You're a good bad guy. You're cool," he taunted. Digger growled, recognizing his own words being used against him. " I don't wanna get in your way like you got in mine. You let me have my girl back, I'll forget about you taking my shit. And cutting my hand off. And I'll even throw in this little hottie, how bout it?" He nodded towards Penny and grinned. Digger growled and glared at the man, looking ready to tear him apart. "Come on, Rosie, let your friends go free-"

"Don't do it…" Penny choked out. Lilith frowned and looked up at Penny. "I don't have anything anymore, I just wanna die, and I want you to get away from him."

Lilith shook her head and felt herself start crying. She looked at Digger, hoping that he would remain hopeful. The anger melted away from his face as looked at Penny. "Jesus… just… Let us die, lovey, I don't want him to get what he wants, especially if it's you," he told her quietly. Lilith looked taken aback, and felt her stomach drop. They were willing to die for her…?

Stone chuckled. "Your friends are weak. It's totally up to you what happens, but just so you know, neither of their deaths will be quick. And you'll have to watch before you gets to leave." She watched him walk over to Penny and pull out his pocket knife, holding it to her throat and starting to press the blade into the skin. Penny tensed up and sobbed, still unable to move.

"Stop!" Lilith gasped, starting forward. He grinned and she trembled. "P-Please, stop…"

"You're gonna come with me?" Lilith nodded and tried to keep her breathing steady as he let go of Penny, taking the knife away from her throat and unfreezing her. Penny gasped and collapsed. She quickly tried to cover herself, sobbing. The gun was pulled away from Digger's head and he hesitated, then took off his coat, putting it around Penny.

"Don't do this," he said seriously. "You can get out of here, Lilith, you can get away-"

"Digger, stop being an idiot!" she snapped. He looked shocked. "I'm not the center of the universe, I'm not special, I don't matter! I just want you both to leave, and forget about me, and I'm sorry that he hurt you… I never wanted anyone to get hurt…"

"You don't think you're special…?" Lilith stiffened at the sadness in Christian's voice, and she turned to look at him. He was standing just behind her, and he reached forward to touch her face with his hand. "You're all that matters Lilith, you're so special... You're the center of my universe, you're all I need and all I want, and I did all of this to show you how much I love you." Lilith opened and closed her mouth, knowing that she just looked terrified, that she was shaking and crying a bit, and she hugged herself. He saw how weak she looked, how she was nothing like how she looked and acted when she wasn't with him. "I-I love you, why are you afraid of me? I do so much for you!"

He grabbed her hair and pushed her against the wall, looking ready to kill her. She cried out and he glared at her. "C-Christian please-"

"You're not supposed to be afraid of me! I'm supposed to keep you safe, I'm supposed to make you feel safe!" he screamed. Digger started towards him, trying to shove him off of her, but Christian pushed him away. "Why does he keep coming to save you?! Why does he do what I can't?!"

Lilith whimpered, closing her eyes and trying to look away from him as best she could. He grabbed her throat and held her in place. She choked and tried to push him back. "I-I'm sorry, Christian, I'm sorry…" Stone felt her tears hitting his hand and his face fell. He let go of her quickly, backing away from her as she leaned against the wall weakly.

"I-I'm sorry, Rose-" he started, shaking his head and closing and opening his fist and watching her try to breath. "L-Lilith, I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to hurt you, I just want you to love me again…"

"Chris…" she breathed, starting to walk closer to him.

"Stop!" he snapped, backing farther away from her. She stood still and watched him run his fingers through his hair, grabbing at it and messing it up even more as he stared with wild eyes at the ground. She gulped and walked forward carefully.

"Christian, it's okay… it's okay…" she told him softly, walking up the him and touching his cheek with her shaking hand. He let go of his hair, his arm falling to his side and he burst into tears. She hushed him, brushing his hair back out of his eyes and holding his cheek. "It's okay, I'm here…"

"I don't know what's wrong with me," he sobbed, looking around the room, his eyes landing on Digger and quickly looking away.

"It's okay," she said again, her voice trembling.

"Please make it stop," he begged, leaning against her. Lilith sucked in a breath and hesitantly held onto him. "I promised to protect you, I-I promised… I don't know how to protect you from me…" Lilith didn't know what to say. "D-Do you remember…? When we first met? All those years ago, when we were, what, twelve? Thirteen? And you said I couldn't tell anyone about you, because then they'd take you?"

"Of course I remember," she agreed.

"I've never stopped thinking about you since that moment. Seriously, everything I've done for the past ten years has been for you. I visited you everyday after and we talked for hours and hours and I gave you my lunch that my Mom packed for me," he told her, as if she didn't already know. "And you told me that I was perfect and beautiful…. And you were so small and thin and you didn't have a home, and when winter came you got sick, and I brought you medicine. Remember that? Remember how I took care of you?"

"Every moment of it," she sighed.

"And then I accidentally found my powers…. And my Mom thought I was a freak… and they took me away and started doing experiments, and sticking needles in me-"

"Stop, Chris, you don't need to remember that… you don't ever have to think of that again," she told him, kissing his cheek gently and holding him. He was like dead weight right now, obviously having some kind of meltdown. She kept brushing his hair from his face. "Y-You don't have to be afraid, Christian, you don't have to be afraid anymore, I'm here…" She leaned to whisper to him. "I'm here, my darling… I'll never leave you again… I love you…" She felt him relax and he put his face into the crook of her neck.

"Can we do what we always planned?" he breathed. She could feel him smiling. "Can we run away… and never have to hurt anyone or make anyone sad ever again?"

Lilith felt herself crying and tried to keep her voice steady. "Of course we can…" she lied. "We can go somewhere really quiet and happy, and it will just be you and me…"

"Do you promise?" he asked. She felt her throat closing up and he took her wrist carefully. She looked down and saw him put his pocket knife in her hand, and he started guiding the knife in her hand towards his chest. "Do you promise it will be like that?"

"You don't have to he scared," she whispered, closing her eyes and trying to pull her hand back. He stood up straight and looked at her, trying to put the knife against his chest. "I can protect you, just let them go, and we'll leave." She pulled the knife away from him and threw it aside. He watched it land across the room and frowned, looking at her in surprise. She grabbed his face and went up on her toes, kissing him deeply. When she pulled away and looked up at him, she could see that he looked even more surprised. She just smiled and brushed her thumb across his cheek gently. "It will just be you and me, I promise." He stared at her and smiled a little. Then he looked at Digger and Penny who just looked confused and shocked. "You can go. I'll have someone bring you back home…" Lilith watched as two more of his men came into the room to escort them out and Digger's face was one of someone who has been betrayed. "Just bring them out in the hallway quickly, we'll be right out." He watched as Digger took Penny's arm and helped her out of the room quickly with the men.

Christian turned Lilith back to look at him. "You promise they'll get home safely?" she questioned seriously. Christian put his hand over his heart.

"I promise. I'd have everything to lose if I hurt them, and that's not worth it." He smiled brightly and put his nose against her, giving her an Inuit kiss before planting a real one on her lips and then peppering her jaw and neck with kisses. "This is like a dream come true, my princess."

"I know," she told him quietly.

"Now I can really keep you safe," he continued, standing up straight and looking into her eyes. "I'll never let you out of my sight again. Not for one second, I won't let the world take you from me again." He wrapped his arms around her and held her. "I won't let them take what's mine again…"

Lilith closed her eyes and held him. "I love you, Chris," she whispered. He looked at her, and his smiled faltered a bit, hearing the lie.

"Tell me again," he said.

"I-I love you," she repeated, trembling a little as she felt something sharp running up her back.

"I love you too," he promised. She watched his arm move to the front of her and she grabbed it quickly, pushing him back and gasping. She wasn't quite sure what had just happened, and she blinked a few times, backing away from him and trying to figure out what he had done. He coughed a bit and stumbled back against the wall, and she saw that his hand was holding the handle a knife, whose blade was stabbed into his chest.

It was her knife…

"Christian!" she gasped, starting forward and grabbing him, sitting him down on the floor. He laughed a bit, then started coughing. Blood dripped down his chin and she watched him try to take the knife out. "Jesus Christ, why did you do that?! Stop it, leave it in, your lungs-"

"I can protect you now…" he explained weakly. "Now you don't have to be afraid anymore…" She looked up at him and shook her head in disbelief. "Go… they're still in the hallway, you should go-"

"I'm not leaving you!" she snapped.

"Lilith." She turned and looked at Digger as he stood in the doorway. "Come on."

"I'm not going to let him die," she hissed.

"What is wrong with you?" Christian laughed. She looked back at him. "After all I've done… after all of this shit…" He coughed and spit blood onto the floor.

Lilith took a deep breath and put her forehead to his, forcing him to connect with her. He was gasping, and she carefully pulled the knife out while he just saw the two of them together, living life like they were normal people. They had a house, they had kids, they loved each other.

"Y-You know it's my fault you can't have kids…" he choked out. "I'm sorry."

"I know…" she breathed, trying to distract him as she tried desperately to use her energy to save him. She didn't want to destroy, she wanted to keep him alive. She figured maybe she could tap into some of his power, somehow…

"Stop it, you can't heal people," he hissed, grabbing her hand and pulling it away from the stab wound in his chest. She quickly put it back on and held him, trying to connect them even further. "L-Lilith…"

She was starting to feel weak, and she felt herself start losing consciousness. Then she felt someone grab her and pull her back away from him. Probably Digger.

"Jesus Christ, ya not dyin' now, are ya?" he grumbled. She tried to mumble something and he just sighed. "Come on, open ya eyes." She hadn't realized that her eyes were closed, and tried to lift her heavy eyelids, immediately wincing at the bright light.

"What the fuck…?" she slurred, trying to sit up.

"There she is," he mumbled. Lilith saw him crouched in front of her, and she could see Christian leaning against the opposite wall, standing now, and playing with the hole in his shirt. "Ya been out fer nearly an hour, sweetheart."

"Wait, what the fuck?" she repeated, sitting up and holding her head. Christian glanced down at her and pulled his shirt up, showing that the stab wound was gone, and there was no scar, no blood. Her mouth fell open and she shook her head. "W-What happened?"

"Well, ya were both out fer a minute, then he woke up real sudden and looked all confused," Digger explained.

"He's alive though?" she questioned. Digger raised an eyebrow and stared at her. "I'm not dead?"

"Eh… not as far as I can tell," he agreed. Lilith looked at him, then looked over at the doorway, seeing Penny glaring at Christian worriedly. She stood up carefully and held out her hand. Christian touched it, staring back at Penny, then turning her head to look at Lilith. She watched his green eyes dancing as he tried to understand what was going on.

"Is this what it's like to be you?" he questioned quietly.

"Can you hear their thoughts?" she asked.

"I don't know… I still hear voices…" he told. "But… everything's warm now…"

"Everything's much nicer when it's warm," she agreed, still watching him. He was thinking, his mind was racing from thought to thought at a maddening pace. No wonder he was so insane, he was constantly fighting with his own mind... "Are you going to stay here?"

"Yes. I'll head back some other time," he explained.

Lilith grabbed Digger's hand and started pulling him towards the door. "Wait wait wait!" he insisted, stopping and forcing her to stop as well. She sighed and looked at him. "We're just gonna leave him? We're not gonna kill him?"

"Do you think I just gave him half of my life just to kill him? He's not hurting anybody," she pointed out.

"Not hurting anybody!?" Penny cried. Lilith glanced at her. "He killed my parents! He tried to kill me!"

"I killed your parents," she pointed out, walking closer to the door. Penny frowned and backed up a bit so Lilith stopped. "Things are different now…"

"Yeah. They are…" her friend agreed quietly.

"We have to bury them," Christian said softly.

Lilith turned her head slightly in his direction. "Are you going to do it?" she questioned.

"Do you want me to?" he countered.

"She should probably be there," she pointed out.

"N-No, I-I don't want to see them. I-I just want to see their grave," Penny said. "I-I don't want to see what you did to them again."

Lilith winced a bit. "We can't give them a funeral. You know that, right?" she told her.

Penny looked her right in the eye with a look of hatred. "Why not?" she hissed. "Because you'll get arrested? Because you murdered them?" Lilith just stared at her, touching her knife again. "I should call the police. You know I should."

"Morally?" Lilith asked.

"Of course, morally!" Penny snapped. "I'm surrounded by a thief, a murderer, and a serial killer, of course I'm morally obligated to call the police!"

"You're surrounded by a thief, a murderer, and a serial killer…" Lilith repeated. "And you just openly said that you're going to call the police." Penny opened her mouth to agree, but froze. "So what makes you think any three of us is going to let you leave…?"

"Lilith?" Digger questioned worriedly.

"Because…" Penny started. "Because you can't kill me. Because I know you, and you don't want to hurt me."

"Exactly. Well, that's true for at least Digger and I. I can't speak for Chris," she said, crossing her arms and looking at him. He looked up from where he had been looking down at his shirt again.

"Huh?" he asked.

"You're not gonna kill her for threatening to call the police right?" Lilith explained. Christian looked at Penny, then at Digger, then back at her.

"Do… do you want me… to?" he questioned uncertainly.

"No!" Digger and Penny both snapped. Christian backed away a little and looked down, mumbling an apology.

Lilith stared at him. "You're so timid again…" she told him.

"I-I'm not angry. It's quieter now, there's less going on in my head," he explained, sounding a bit excited. Lilith felt her heart ache.

"There's less?" she questioned. He nodded. "Oh you poor thing… it's still so much…"

"Oh, well you remember, that's how I used to be before. Before I was a diagnosed psychopath, I was just a kid with ADHD," he told her, sounding almost proud. Lilith blinked, then chuckled a bit and looked back at Penny.

"I just wanna go home," Penny whimpered, covering her face.

"I just wanna know if we're getting ratted on or not," Digger mumbled.

"I'm fine," Christian smiled.

Lilith shook her head and just started laughing. While Penny found herself surrounded by a thief, a murderer, and a serial killer, Lilith found herself surrounded by her innocent, anxious little sister, her rough, bad-boy lover, and the over-grown and over-excited, warped child that she still deep down thought of as a friend.

They all looked at her as she laughed. "I love you guys," she explained, walking out the door past Penny. Penny watched her, and grabbed her arm.

"W-Wait, where are you going?" she asked.

"I'm going to bury your parents," she said without thinking. She winced when Penny closed her eyes and started crying. "Shit. I mean, just… stay with Digger." She quickly hurried down the hall towards the room where Penny's parents were still laying.

Digger and Christian both looked out after her. "So… you know, if some of her mind went to me…" Christian started.

"Fuck, if you put some'a ya crazy in my girlfriend, I'm gonna kill ya whether she wants me to 're not," Digger snapped.

"That's fair," Christian agreed.

"G-Girlfriend?" Penny sniffed, looking up at Digger. "I-I thought you two weren't together-"

"Yeah, don't tell 'er I said that, kay?" he cut her off. "She can't go- do that alone. I can't leave ya with him, and he is not gonna help her. But I can't bring ya with me-"

"I don't need someone to watch me," she scoffed. "I lost my parents, I didn't lose my mind, or my independence." She started off down the hall.

"Wait, now where're you goin'?" Digger sighed.

"Home. I'll have Lilith's stuff packed for when you guys get back," she told him, not turning back.

"Ya'ren't gonna call the cops, are ya?" he questioned.

She stopped and looked down. "N-No… but you have to promise that once you and Lilith come back for her stuff, I never see you, or you again." she said, turning and pointing at both of them.

"Can't promise that, not if yah okay with seein' Lilith," Digger told her. She nodded slowly.

"Just don't ever… ever drag me into something like this again," she insisted.

"We won't…" Christian said. Digger glared at him, and Penny turned, continuing down the hall and out of the building.  
\---

"Lilith?"

She didn't say anything, not looking up from the bodies. Digger sighed and walked over to her. "Lilith, ya'okay-?"

"Rose."

He frowned and stopped. "What?"

"Call me Rose. The only people that kept Lilith alive are dead, and Penny left and wants nothing to do with me," she explained. "Call me Rose."

"Kay…. I can't promise I won't slip up and call ya the only thing I've ever called ya," he chuckled. "But if that's what you want."

She turned and looked at him, seeing Christian loitering out in the hallway. "It's just how it is. I made myself Black Rose again, that's how it has to be…" she sighed, looking back down at the bodies. "I can't pick them up."

"Why not?"

"Too heavy," she explained, tilting her head slightly. He watched her. "That and they were the closest thing to parents I had, and I killed them the same way I kill everyone that matters to me."

"Lil-"

"I can't pick them up, can you help me?" she asked, looking at him. He took a deep breath and nodded, moving to pick them up.

It took them about two hours to get a hole big enough to fit them in dug up, then they had to put them in it, then they had to put the dirt back on. By the time they were done, the horizon was starting to turn a bit pink. "Where did Penny go?" Rose asked.

"Looks like she took that car," Christian explained.

"I hotwired that, hope she doesn't get caught," she mumbled.

"Ya not following us," Digger told Christian.

"I know," he said. "I'll get to the States on my own and leave you alone," he agreed. Digger nodded and took Lil- Rose's hand. She looked at him and smiled.

"Stop smilin', we just buried two dead bodies!" he sighed, walking her over to the truck.

"Yeah, but you came for me," she said. "You saved me, my hero."

"Stop that," he insisted, getting into the driver's side seat of the truck. He didn't like how quickly things had shifted from being horrific and dark and angsty to being light and chummy like this. It made him feel like something bad was going to happen.

"Nope," she told him, getting into the passenger seat. He looked over at her. "He's not going to bother us anymore, and Penny's not going to call the police. Look, the sun is rising, it's symbolism for this bright new day."

"Stop that," he said again. "I don't need ya readin' me thoughts."

"Can't help it," she mumbled, leaning back in the seat and closing her eyes. He watched her for a minute, then shook his head, starting the truck and starting to drive back into town. "Things are gonna be different now. But it's not a bad thing… I promise."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Thank you for reading! Again one more chapter (the epilogue) after this, then if you want to check out my fic Black Rose, I'll either be posting a whole new separate "edited" version, or I'll just update the chapters of the original. Then on to the sequel! Let me know what you think of this chapter, and the fic! I really appreciate everyone who's read one through the whole thing, I love you guys!


	8. And You Need A Jacket (Epilogue)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Hey guys! So, last chapter of this story! It ends just about where Black Rose begins, because I like circles! I'm going to get started on the Black Rose- Extended Cut fic almost immediately, so stay tuned! Hope you enjoy this last chapter, and you enjoyed the story!

Rose watched as the woman shuffled around her garden, talking on and on about things that she had stopped listening to. She just sat among the bright pink flowers (which she had been informed were called waraths), and smiled politely whenever the Mrs. Brown looked in her direction. Occasionally, she would look into the trailer where Mr. Brown and Digger were discussing whatever it was men talked about over beer, and smile a bit.

"He's a fine young man, ya know?" Rose looked over at the woman as she spoke. "Always comes 'n helps me when I need heavy liftin' done."

"Does he?" she questioned.

"Oh, yes, Digger's always been so kind to us. He's like the son we never got," she told her. "Ya know he'd like some kids someday too, Missy? Are you two gonna get on that?"

"Edna!" Rose laughed, blushing.

"Don't think I'm just a silly little old lady, dear, I can hear ya in the night, rockin' ya whole trailer," she teased. Rose covered her face and laughed. "Help me, will ya? I need that spade over there." Rose stood up, shaking her head as she laughed lightly, and walked over to get the spade.

Almost as soon as she bent down to pick it up, she heard Digger whistle in her direction, and she barely had time figure out exactly where he was let alone stand up straight before he smacked her butt. She gasped and glared at him as he laughed. "Nice bum, girly," he teased, giving it a squeeze. She blushed and glanced over at Mrs. Brown. "She doesn't care."

"Have a little decency, at least," she chuckled, walking over and handing the spade to the other woman.

"Thank ya, deary," Edna said. She looked at Digger. "And don't go embarrassin' the girl, she's nice enough ta stay with a bludger like you."

"Oi, I done more fer Rose then she puts on, she's the selfish one," Digger tried.

"Doesn't mean ya not lazy, makin' ya girl work in the hot sun while ya sit back with a coldie," the woman argued.

Digger chuckled and sipped the beer in his hand. "Garden-work's a woman's job," he pointed out.

"It's not 1920, ya sexist little prick," Edna snapped playfully at him. Digger laughed and Rose smiled.

"Yeah, well, I'd probably fuckin' crush ya flowers, Mrs. Brown, I'm too big fer that kinda thing," he chuckled. "Rose, wanna head back inside for a sec? I wanna talk to you."

"Sure," she agreed. She looked down at Edna. "Are you gonna be alright out here? I can come back out a bit later if you still need me."

The woman sighed. "I should be alright. It's probably about time I start supper anyways," she said, standing up carefully. "You two go 'head back ta ya place and talk." She winked and started back to her trailer.

"Right, then. Night, Mrs. Brown," Digger said, taking Rose's hand. Rose smiled a bit and blushed, knowing that he probably didn't even realize he was holding her hand.

"Goodnight, Georgey," Mrs. Brown called back.

Digger brought Rose back to his trailer and closed the door behind him. She walked over to his bed and sat down. He hung up his jacket over his coat and walked over to her, kissing her gently. She chuckled and touched his cheek. "So talking really was a euphemism," she chuckled.

"Well it wasn't. But once that idea comes along…" he smirked, pushing her back on the bed and crawling over her. "How can I pass up the opportunity?"

"She just said that 'cause she wants some 'grandkids'," she told him, pushing him a little. "What do you want to talk to me about?"

Digger stared at her for a minute. "Grandkids?" he questioned.

"Well she thinks of you as a son…" she pointed out.

"Ah. Yeah, that'd be nice. But whatever," he chuckled. He kissed at her neck. "Nothin' we can do 'bout that-"

"Wait you want to have kids?" she asked, shocked. She looked at him. He raised an eyebrow.

"Well I mean… yeah. I like kids. I've always kinda wanted…" Digger shook his head and sighed, kissing her. "Nah, I got other things ta do. No time fer a family 'r a wife ta take care'a. Not in this lifetime. I chose a different life from that."

Rose didn't really know how to respond to that, watching him lay on the bed next to her and feeling a sudden overwhelming sense of guilt. "Y-Yeah…" she mumbled.

"So why can'tcha? Just wonderin', what's wrong with ya so ya can't have kids?" he questioned. She rolled her eyes and glared at him.

"Nothing's wrong with me," she scoffed.

"'s not what I meant," he mumbled, picking at his teeth. "He said ya couldn't have kids cause'a him. What'd he do?"

Rose didn't say anything for a few seconds. "It wasn't him. He just blames himself for everything wrong with me," she explained. "He thinks that if he could have saved me, given me a better life, that I would be able to have kids and I wouldn't have had to steal all the time…"

"It's not his fault, but it's not yers either, ya know," he reminded her. She shrugged.

"It is my fault… my ovaries never developed…" she told him.

"Yer what?"

"Where the eggs come from," she sighed. Digger stared at her in confusion. "Really, Digger?"

"Oi, I was only ever told ta keep me spoof away from the girls bits," he said defensively. "Or ta put on a franger if ya really can't hold yahself back…"

"Really, Digger?" she laughed. He snorted. "I'm not giving you a sex ed class, look it up yourself." He stared at her again. "What?"

"Wanna go to America?" he asked.

"What?"

"Wanna go to America?" he repeated.

"I know what you said, but what?" she sighed.

He sat up on his elbow. "Australia's like the place'a me old life. I grew up here, I lived me whole life here…" he explained.

"You've run out of banks to rob," she guessed.

"I've hit every one here at least once," he agreed with an exasperated sigh. "I need some new places to get me money. And plus, every, like, seventy five cents in American cash is, worth a gold coin in Australian. Do a know how many notes I would get fer a million bucks?"

"How many, Digger?" she chuckled.

"A lot," he grinned. She snorted and rolled her eyes. "I could afford some food... I could afford a better place than this... hell, I could even get the oldies next door a better place. I could fix up me weapons, and me bike, I could buy ya clothes 'n stuff, and whatever ya want." She stared at him while he just stared up at the ceiling. " 'less ya wanna stay in the States, then I'll just help ya out with rent."

"You don't have to pay rent," she told him. "I told you you'd have a place to stay if you ever decided to come to Gotham City."

"Forgot you said that," he gasped, turning to look at her. "Cool, I'm crashin' at yer place."

"Don't start in Gotham, you have to start small. Start in Montana or something," she sighed, feeling his hand run up her leg.

"Yer so smart," he teased, moving himself so that he was over her again. "And yer so pretty…"

"You think so?" she smirked, leaning up and kissing him.

"Course," he agreed, pushing her legs apart and settling in between them. He started biting at her collarbone gently, and sucking at her neck. "Very pretty." He kept saying things between kisses to her neck and chest, and she laughed as he pulled at the collar of her shirt. "So… do you want to talk?"

"You horny bastard," she teased, squealing a bit when he moved and pulled her shorts off and throwing them aside. He moved her around so that she was on her stomach, then up onto her hands and knees, and started kneading her ass. "Digger, I swear-"

"I'm not gonna, I just wanna," he mumbled, grabbing the waistband of her panties and tugging them down. "Maybe I just wanna eatcha pussy out from behind."

She turned her head and smirked. "You don't wanna see my pretty face?" she asked sweetly. He stuck out his tongue at her and pushed her forward so that her face was against the bed and her ass was in the air. "If you touch my ass, I'll kick you in the nuts."

"Yah so feisty," he scoffed lightly. She rolled her eyes and bit her lip.

"If we're gonna talk, you better shut up," she chuckled, watching his face curl into a mischievous smirk before he got to work. She gasped and let her head relax against the mattress, letting out a shaky, breathy moan.  
\---

Rose honestly wasn't too fond of whatever Australian cigarettes Digger bought. Bond something… whatever it was it wasn't strong enough. But it was all she had, so she lit her second one. After probably the most raw, animalistic sex they had ever had, Digger had announced that he was going into the dirty little cubicle he called a shower. So she had put her hair up in a messy bun and had pulled on her panties and shorts and grabbed his jacket so that she could sit on his steps and smoke. She pulled her phone out of her short's pocket and unlocked it.

August 3rd, 2012, 7:30PM, 57℉

It was August… so her and Penny had been in Australia for two months. Yesterday around noon, her and Penny and Penny's parents had plane tickets back to Gotham City's International Airport. Yesterday around noon, Penny would have boarded a plane on her own and flown about 20 hours all on her own. Rose felt like the worst friend- and the worst sister -ever.

She saw some messages in her text inbox and opened them. A few were from Penny, and she opened those ones first.

'I can't ever forgive you for doing what you did. Even though it wasn't your fault.'

'I hope you understand that.'

'I don't understand how your world works, and I don't want to, but just know that I don't trust you anymore, and I probably never will. You probably know that my flight back is today. I'm guessing you're staying with Digger, and that's fine. You have more in common with him than you do with me.'

'That being said, please don't try to contact me anymore. I told them, and I'm telling you: I don't ever want to be dragged into something like that ever again. And you drag trouble with you everywhere you go. One day you're going to get caught, Lilith. You're right, you aren't the center of the universe, you aren't special. You're just a person who makes shitty choices. So that's all I have to say. I love you, Lil, and I hope you make better choices in the future than you have in the past.'

That was the last text Penny had sent, a day ago. She hadn't looked at her phone yesterday, and it was too late to respond now.

She sighed and went back to her inbox, seeing she had a warning that she was getting charged extra for sending and receiving messages internationally. Luckily for her, her phone was still under the Agnos' plan, and the authorities didn't know that Sofia and Alex Agnos were dead yet. So they're credit card would cover the cost until their bodies were discovered and all of their accounts were shut down.

Rose had no doubt that their bodies would be found. The amount of blood that had covered the floor of the abandoned asylum as a result of their murder would be washed away with the rain, but only once rain came, and it didn't seem like any rain was in the forecast. No doubt some urban explorer would come across the blood and call the police. She figured it would only be about a month, maybe two until they were discovered.

So she deleted the charge-alert texts from her inbox and clicked the other unread message thread.

'Maybe don't delete these until you read them'

'And maybe you can read them and not him. I want you to read these, they're for you'

'I love you'

'Please know that. Everything I do is for you, whether it's going to affect you or not. I love you. And it drives me insane'

'But I won't bother you or him or Penny anymore. I said I wouldn't and I won't. I went home two days ago, I'm back in Gotham. Don't know if you're coming back to the City or staying in Australia, but I won't bother you'

'This is Christian by the way'

'I love you, Lilith'

Lilith shook her head and finished her cigarette, dropping it on the ground and crushing it with her foot as she stood up. She opened the door to the trailer and went back inside. Digger came out of the bathroom a few seconds later, running a towel over his head to dry his hair, but nothing else covered him. She sighed and kicked her sandals off, and hung up his jacket, going over to the bed. She still held her phone in her hand as she slid off her shorts and climbed into bed, in nothing but her panties as she watched Digger pull on his boxers.

"Yeah. Let's go back to America," she told him.

"Thought we covered that," he chuckled, getting into bed with her.

"I don't have anything here," she continued, laying against him.

"Oi, ya got me," he pointed out, sounding mock-offended. She rolled her eyes.

"If you're coming with me then what will I have here?" she said.

"Mr. and Mrs. Brown seem ta like ya," he teased, kissing her head.

"True. Yeah, you go to America, I'll stay here with your neighbors that I've known for two weeks," she joked. He laughed and kissed her head, going on his side and looking down at her.

"I ain't got nothin' here neither, girly, not really. 't's me home but I got no family," he told her. "Plus, I kinda like hangin' with ya."

"Even though I… drag trouble wherever I go," she sighed, thinking of Penny's texts.

"It's never a dull moment, sweetheart, I like it," he smirked. She chuckled and leaned up to kiss his cheek. He sighed and closed his eyes, putting a hand on her leg. "I'd say give it another week before we head out, so we got some time to make a more solid plan."

"Sounds good," she yawned, closing her eyes and turning so that he back faced him, and her face looked towards the little window near the bed.

They didn't say anything for a while, and Digger looked at her again, seeing that she was staring out the window and frowning deeply. She didn't look at him, but he felt her hand go over the one he had resting on her leg and she ran her thumb over the back of it. He liked how little her hand was in comparison to his. Everything about her was smaller, softer, sweeter. Of course, he knew that was only on the outside. On the inside, she was a little ball of sarcasm and self-confidence and sass.

Rose started laughing and took her hand back as she covered her face. He chuckled a bit -and lay down, spooning her and holding her close to him. "I'm glad that you appreciate my sarcasm and sass," she told him. He kissed her head and she sighed, shaking her head. "You know… we're probably going to be sick of each other the longer we stay together."

Now it was his turn to laugh. "Probably, lovey," he agreed, brushing her hair out of her face and watching her look back out the window.  
\---  
-Four Years Later: Late September, 2016-

"What's Central City like?"

"It's like Gotham City, but different," Digger told her, moving his position on the bed and moving his laptop screen back.

"Thanks," she said, laying on her stomach.

"Ya miss me? Ya got that big bed all ta yahself, little girl," he chuckled, obviously not looking at her face.

"I don't always go to bed alone," she smirked.

"Ya sound awfully proud'a that." He moved again so that the laptop slid off his lap and he swore.

"Should I not be proud of it? I feel like being able to get guys is something to be proud of," she pointed out, pulling up the shoulder of her sweater to cover the cleavage he had been gawking at for the last ten minutes.

Digger snorted as he fixed his laptop. "Nah, guys call girls like that sluts," he told her. She glared at him.

"Oh yeah? What are you, then?" she spat.

"Lucky," he smirked. She huffed.

"I'll just call you a man-slut," she told him, crossing her arms to lean her chin on them.

Digger smirked and watched her. "So what's the plan, girly?" he questioned.

"You have the headsets, right?" she asked. "The earpieces?"

"Right."

"So I'll talk to you through them, and keep an eye on you through the cams, and shut off the alarms," she explained.

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"It's really that simple?" Rose sighed and started playing with the tips of her hair. "Ya sure I won't get caught?"

"Unless the Batman followed you to Central City-"

"The Bat's not the one I'm worried about, love," he sighed, leaning back. "I've had run-ins with the Flash before, I'd like ta avoid another…"

She blinked. "Then why did you chose to hit Central City?" she asked.

"The diamonds are too good ta pass up, babe, I got no choice," he explained. She rolled her eyes. "Look I'm just not sure how ya think ya gonna see 'im if he shows up."

"If I don't, that's your fault," she told him honestly. He grumbled something and pouted. "Your lip looks a little better."

"Fuck you," he mumbled, touching his split lip gently.

"I wish," she sighed. "You should come home."

"I just got here. What, ya wanna punch me again?" he scoffed.

"You shouldn't have put your hand under my dress in public like that," she pointed out.

"Why not? Everybody saw how short it was, ya were practically beggin' me ta touch ya," he argued.

"I didn't know that I got dressed for you," she smirked.

"I'm gonna get ready," he grumbled, setting the laptop down and getting up to get dressed.

"Well I'm gonna go then," she told him, letting the shoulder of her sweater fall off again and she started kicking her feet a little.

"Are ya?" he asked, although he didn't sound interested. She sighed he looked over at the computer, seeing how much cleavage she was showing. "Ah…"

"I really should go set up the headsets," she sighed loudly, rolling back onto her back and bending her knee so that her long sweater fell a bit and exposed more of her thigh. He licked his lips and glanced at the door.

"Are ya wearin' pants?" he questioned quietly, walking back over to his laptop. She bit her lip and shook her head. "Ya wearin' underwear?"

"Nobody's here but me, I don't need to…" she teased, pulling her sweater down over her crotch, which uncovered more of her thighs and pulled her neckline down enough that he could see one of her nipples. He grunted and grabbed the front of his pants. "Oh, Digger, I thought you were getting ready?"

"Don'tcha dare hang up on me, girl," he growled, pulling the chair over towards the edge of the bed and sitting in front of the laptop. She bit her lip and blinked with heavy eyelids.

"Digger, you have a job to do," she reminded him.

"So do you," he mumbled.

"You're right, I should go get on that," she smirked, pulling her sweater to cover her completely again. He growled deep in his throat.

"You little tease," he accused. She pouted innocently.

"Go get ready," she said sweetly. "Once you get the job done, you can come home, and I won't have the sweater on." He watched her move slowly, moving the camera back and going up on her hands and knees. "And you'll be able to touch…"

"Fuck, I thought I had a month long no-touching punishment," he reminded her with a smirk. She pushed her hair behind her ear and giggled a bit. "You fucking tease…"

"I can't wait a month," she told him, pouting again. "You better go get ready Digger, you have ten minutes."

"When I get back there-" he started, before she ended the call. He growled and grabbed the front of his pants again, getting up and going to get ready.  
\---

"Watch it, there's a guard," Rose hissed, watching Digger nearly round a corner. He stopped and put his hand out to the man who was 'helping him out'. He pulled a boomerang out of his jacket and glanced around the corner, aiming it at the guard and throwing it. "You need to keep your guard up."

Once the boomerang was back in Digger's hand and he rounded the corner, he chuckled. "Not when I got my guardian angel watchin' over me." She snorted. "Where to next, sweetheart?"

"Just up ahead," she told him. "Take, like, four more steps."

"Ya still wearin' that sweater?" he questioned with a little smirk, stopping in front of a door.

"Just punch in the code, dumbass," Rose sighed into her earpiece, leaning back in her computer chair. She watched Digger start messing with a keypad near the door through the security camera images. "No, not that one."  
"Which one, then," he scoffed, hitting the keypad with one of his boomerangs. It sparked and the door flew open.

"That works too, but now you've got alarms going off," she pointed out, leaning forward again and typing things into the keyboard to shut off the alarms. Once the screen showed that the sensors weren't triggered, she leaned back again. "It's just down the hall, to the right. Let me unlock it for you." She hit a few buttons and the door to the vault unlocked and opened.

"What would I do without'cha? Want me ta bring ya back some'a these jewels for ya, love? Give ya'a nice diamond ring for bein' so damn helpful?" he teased, walking into the vault and placing his bag on the table.

"Oh, you're so sweet," she taunted back. "How's your lip?" She watched through the screen as he touched his lip, then held his middle finger up at the camera. She chuckled and glanced at the other man, who was helping to clean out the vault. "What are you gonna do about that one?"

Digger glanced at the man and then up at the camera. "Workin' on it," he mumbled, starting to throw money into his bag, then vacuum up some of the jewels.

The other man laughed. "We're gonna be rich," he grinned, dropping some diamonds in a bag. Digger glanced at him.

"Yeah, you and me, mate. Go'n get the car," he said. The other man grabbed his bag full of money and jewels and started out towards the car. Digger grabbed his bag and went out the door after him, throwing his boomerang and hitting the other man in the head. The man cried out and fell to the ground, so Digger walked over, laughing and picking up the bag on the ground.

The cameras started getting fuzzy and she frowned. "Hey, I'm getting some interfere-" she started. She sat up. "Oh fuck… Digger, turn around."

Digger hesitated and turned around, his eyes widening when he saw the Flash standing in front of the open vault door. "No honor amongst thieves, eh?" the hero joked, then ran at Digger. The cameras on multiple screens cut to either black or static.

"Dumbass," she growled, shutting down the computer systems.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author's Note: Thank you guys for reading! If you haven't already read Black Rose (or I mean, if you have too), I'm going to be re-writing it, so stay-tuned for that! Let me know what you thought of this story, and thank you again for reading it!


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